Paris, France
I realize it has taken quite some time to get to this point, but, alas, this concludes this European trip. I will have one other post with a few random, funny shots regarding the trip, but this is the last fully educational one.
Our second day in Paris was where we fit in the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees (pronounced quickly: shom-zeh-ley-say), and the Arc de Triomphe. We did so much walking on this day it probably equates to all the other cities we went to combined. My feet hated me at the end of the day, but I digress...
We started the day off right (or wrong, as it was really early again) with a croissant from the boulangerie across the street from the Louvre.
These are the columns that greet visitors from the side entrance. They are so ornate and the picture can't quite show it, but they are massive. It's no wonder they have stood the test of time.
The back of the "U" from inside the Louvre courtyard.
I'll be honest, I don't remember what this one was called, but I know I've seen it before (in a textbook, perhaps), maybe you recognize it?
This is the "Diana of Versailles", a Roman copy of a Greek sculpture depicting Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, doing what she does best.
One of the many ornately decorated ceilings. This depicts Athena overseeing a "battle", more or less, between men.
Couldn't miss the "Venus de Milo". She really is beautiful and even more so when you think of the relatively primitive tools used to sculpt her around 130-100 BC.
"The Wedding at Cana" by Veronese. This thing is HUGE! In the lower left hand side, the guy who doesn't have black hair was standing pretty close to it so it can give you a sense of scale. The painting is a little larger than 22' x 32'. It was one of the most impressive paintings in my opinion.
"The Mona Lisa" by none other than da Vinci. I was warned ahead of time that she would be small, so she could have been more anti-climactic for me, but still, for the amount of people crowding around her and her fame, you would expect her to be...larger. Don't get me wrong, the painting is a work of art and her smile/smirk is intriguing, but she's about 30" x 21", so she was hard to see from 10 feet away through many peoples' heads.
A colorful painting.
"Le Sommeil de l'Enfant Jesus" by Sassoferrato. Translated: The Sleep of the Infant Jesus.
"Modern Rome" by Panini. Paintings within a painting.
Our group outside The Louvre after seeing the art and before we started the trek down the Champs-Elysees. I cannot explain why Kevin is sans jacket. It was chilly.
This was after we already walked a bit and made it out of the gardens in front of The Louvre. We had decided since we could see the Arc de Triomphe from the front of The Louvre, it wasn't that far. Well, it was a healthy 2.23 miles down the equivalent of Chicago's "Million Dollar Mile" or New York's 5th Avenue. The Champs-Elysees is where the luxury giants are located (i.e. Louis Vuitton). This is known as one of the most expensive strips of (retail) real estate in the world.
Stopped for a quick meal before we reached the Arc.
The massive Arc de Triomphe! There are multiple underground tunnels made for tourists to access the Arc to prevent anyone from playing Human Frogger through the heavy traffic of this central location.
This is the "underbelly" of the Arc.
We decided to pay the 6 euros to climb to the top of the Arc. These are only a few of the stairs we climbed. I think at some points I was using my hands as well as my then-wobbly legs. We agreed we burned off everything we had eaten in Europe so far with this day. Don't get me wrong, I'm fairly fit, but this isn't my usual workout...
The summit at last! It was pretty windy up there, but the 360-degree views of Paris were worth it. It looks like an overcast day, but the grey clouds were high. We had visibility for miles (or should I say kilometers?).
A view of the Eiffel Tower from the top. I will say, Wikipedia has a great
article with facts and the truly awesome history of the Arc and a really neat panoramic picture of the view from the top. There is so much history and symbolism in this one monument; I guarantee it's more than you thought you knew.
As a final note, this was my last meal in Europe, in the airport, before our flight. Our flight ended up being delayed by four hours, so I missed both of my connections to get home to San Antonio. I ended up spending the night in Philadelphia before having to catch a 6am flight to Denver to connect to SA later that afternoon and then drive the three hours to CS the next day. I ended up missing class on Monday, but it was unavoidable.
