Louvre Day

Today our primary goals were to visit the Louvre and then have a final celebratory dinner at the famous 'Le Cottage Marcadet', the memory of which elicits paroxysms of joy from a certain gentleman I know. Anyhow, first the Louvre. We wended our way there on the Metro lines, which we were starting to feel quite comfortable with, exiting at the station labelled 'Louvre'. Emerging from belowground, we realized that if the Louvre was airconditioned, that would be the place to be! We had to wait in line only 15 minutes, but in mid-morning the temps had already soared to >90, and it felt like more in the sun. I snapped this picture of a street near our hotel - Kate has my other images, so I'll upload some more later when I get them to my office.

It's difficult to imagine that the Louvre could live up to its reputation, but in fact it did. To beat the incoming crowds, we made a beeline for the most famous attractions - the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, passing numerous fantastic pieces of art along the way. Arriving at each of those, the crowds had already gathered, and we therefore stood several people deep away from both. Honestly, Kate and I thought both were overhyped. Part of that impression may have been due to the fact that we really couldn't get as close to them as to the other art on display (ML was behind plexiglas, for example!). What amazed us was how close we could get to everything else! Paintings by da Vinci, Renoir, Matisse, etc., sculptures by Michaelangelo, Rodin; we could walk right up to these and examine the brushstrokes are the chisel marks! We had planned to spend only the morning there, but ended up staying until mid-afternoon, just enjoying some of the main attractions as well as the back rooms with fewer people. I think I could have gone for 5 straight days, spending 5 hours each day, and not gotten tired. The place was huge, the exhibits really well done. They had plexiglass covered explanations in different languages located in most rooms that amounted to a virtual art course if you wanted it. We both thought it was fantastic!

We decided to shower in mid-afternoon and rest prior to heading for Le Cottage. That turned out to be very necessary. I had the hairbrained idea of walking through the Tuileries gardens en route back to our hotel. But it was nearing 100 degrees. We did it anyway, but were drenched with sweat and tired by the time we metro'd back to the hotel.

I won't bore you with all the details of our 5 course meal at Le Cottage. Suffice it to say it was definitely the fanciest and most expensive meal I have ever had. Every course was gorgeously presented, flavorful. and tastefully done. And it took nearly 3 hours! After dinner, we strolled over the hill to Sacre Coeur, which was lit up. Against the deep blue, darkening sky, it was a gorgeous site. Views out over the nightlit city made it obvious why Montmartre, and Paris generally, is so romantic.