Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Paris, May 2007 : Saturday


We went to the Louvre.

This place is huge. The Lonely Planet guide says it would take someone 9 months to see everything in it, and that's just glancing at everything.

So our "hit-list" was the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the two Vermeers (the Lacemaker and the Astronomer).





It could have been the jostling crowds, but me and Mr K-E were both underwhelmed by the Mona Lisa (or La Joconde, it's other name apparently). There was so much beautiful art in the same room eg The Wedding at Cana, it just didn't seem that special. But what do I know? :)

The Vermeers were outstanding though.





The entrance pyramid by I M Pei is quite interesting. All sorts of old vs new ideas going on.

But I'm still not sure if it works.














Nice stairs, huh?


















As we wandered around Mr K-E spotted this.

Renaissance porn!











In the same gallery there is a lion-eating-man sculptor.

Over-dramatic and gory, but I like it!














I also like this Hercules one.

















After lunch at the Louvre, we headed across the Seine to the Notre Dame cathedral.

This is the view of the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and the Pont D'Arcole from the Ile de la Cite.

Mr K-E says look at the little fluffy clouds.












Notre Dame Cathedral.















You can't really appreciate how big this place is from a photo. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you'll see the choirmaster wearing a bright blue robe at the front. She how tiny she is compared to the building?

We actually visited when Sunset Mass (6:30pm) was starting. It was amazing seeing mass being celebrated in this wonderful setting. The choir were wearing black tie! Wow!

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