A Two Day Kind of Paris

The first place our excursion took us in Paris was to the Louvre.  I knew the Louvre housed one of the largest collections of Renaissance Art and that it had many other exhibits as well.  What I didn't realize was that I would enjoy spending four hours in it as much as I did.  I easily could have spent much longer there, too.

The first place we went after entering into the huge glass pyramid (which is super hot, I might point out) was the Denon Wing.  This is where sculptures by Michelangelo are housed, where the Mona Lisa lives, and where there is a rather impressive staircase with a very familiar statue as the focus.  I happen to have a miniature of this Nike sculpture sitting on my desk at home.  My beloved sister, Danielle, often tries to steal it from me.  Sometimes she even comes close.  After seeing how impressive the original is, however, there is no way she's getting close to it again.

After the impressive staircase was an even more impressive gallery of Renaissance paintings from Italy.  There was a fresco on the wall leading into the exhibit and I was able to identify the artist without the aid of a placard.  Guess I did learn something from all of those site visits when I was in Italy.  Another painting in the Denon caught my attention.  I was drawn to it before I knew what it was.  Then I figured out I had actually been there and maybe that is why I loved it so much.  It's a painting of the St Francis Church in Assisi.  The underground church (first to be build with a second built later over top) was truly magnificent.  Turns out the only picture I have of it is now the one posted below.

But enough of Renaissance art and the Louvre.  They are fantastic and all, but that was only one thing I did while in Paris.  We also went by the river, saw Notre Dame and looked in on some great pastry shops.  But the magic of Paris is not just above the ground, it is beneath it as well.  So, into the catacombs of the city we went.  The catacombs aren't actually as old as you may think, either.  They were a project started in the late 18th century to help reinforce the city or some nonsense like that.  For over a hundred years the bones of people from the Cemetery of the Innocents and over 150 churches went into this mass grave.  The result was nothing great for city support.  But it did make a hopping tourist destination.

Once above ground again we headed for a much more serene Paris mega tourist spot: The Eiffel Tower.  We stayed near the Eiffel Tower for a few hours, seeing it in all its aspects, including when the lights dance on it's surface.  All of those images are shown below.  We were going to climb it but the line was far too long and decided to take a little carriage ride instead.  Super fun and magical just begin to describe it.

And that was my first day in Paris.  The next day was just as beautiful and I actually ended up getting sun burnt.  We went to Sacre Coure, a marvelous church on a high hill with the best view of Paris.  We saw the Moulin Rouge and sat by the river for an hour or so and went to the Triumphal Arch.  Then we went across town to the Pantheon and called it a day.  There were of course things we didn't do and more that I would have liked to have seen but all in all I do believe my time in Paris was well spent.