I set aside an entire day for the Louvre, which may or may not have been necessary. First off, I proceeded to get lost looking for the appropriate metro stop. On my mini-adventure, I came to the realization that Paris has a lot of, well, smells. Bakeries (yum!), Asian food, flower stands (my favorite so far!), and lots and lots of colonge/perfume. Whew!
Importantly, I also located a super market, which eventually helped me acquire that most impossible to find item on the Paris Scavenger Hunt List: WATER. I was practically giddy upon acquiring my one bottle of the stuff.
On to the Louvre! Getting a museum pass was worth just being able to slip right on in to the museum - you get to go through a special entrance where there is NO LINE. Security was a breeze and I was on my way to seeing some awesome art within 15 minutes.
The Louvre is pretty overwhelming...not only is it huge, but it's also pretty confusing. My almost non-existent French vocabulary has been supplemented by one word today: sortie (exit). Trust me, even surrounded by vast quantities of awesome art, you will eventually want to leave.
Despite the fact that the lovely Mona Lisa is probably the most famous piece of art in the world, I've never been too impressed. I was by far impressed with 1.) how hard she was to find despite all the signs pointing me in her direction (limited French considered, my brain jumped to the conclusion that Spanish might be useful if necessary - donde esta la Mona Lisa? was running through my head the whole time I looked) and 2.) the crowd of people gathered around her (it triggered memories of waiting in line to see a baby panda. I liked the panda better).
Favorites: all the medieval coffin lids with precious pets carved at their masters' feet, Cupid and Psyche (and lots of other beautiful statues in the same room), and, as always, practically any painting featuring children (too many to list).
I'm definitely looking forward to meeting up with Maria and her mom, because while Paris solo is interesting, it's also lonely. There's no one to discuss anything with and no one to take your picture. Bummer. I didn't take many photos in the Louvre because 1.) my camera's batteries keep going dead, 2.) I've taken photos of art pieces before and never did anything with them, and 3.) the art always looks better on the postcards you can buy anyway.
Post-Louvre, I headed back to the hostel (with a little detour to the super market for my precious water) because my feet hurt, where I proceeded to take a two hour nap (a result of lots of walking and not much sleep last night) and then update this crazy blog.
Tomorrow, I'll probably do the walking tour offered by my hostel (it hits most major sites) and then...who knows? Musee d'Orsay is on the list, as is Musee de l'Orangie and the aquarium. I doubt the aquarium has much I haven't already seen, but there's just something about watching tropical fish that I like. Oooh...I wonder if they have jellyfish. : )
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