The Louvre

On Friday, at this point, we have already toured Notre Dame, The Opera House,

Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower Parks. We were trying to get the most our of our free Hop On Hop Off bus tickets and it was a really easy way to get around town in a predictable manner. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and we were completely spent. Our feet had jungle rot and our kids were both re-enacting the "possessed" scene from The Exorcist. We Hopped On the Hop On Hop Off bus and were trying to map out our next stop. It had started to rain. And then the both kids fell asleep at the same time. Nate and I looked at each other from across the bus and mouthed "The Louvre"! Lets be honest, the only way we were going to get to see any portion of the Louvre was if our kids were well rested and in great, cooperative moods (ha!) or if they were sound asleep. Next stop - The Louvre.

Really, the only thing I really knew about The Louvre, I learned from Tom Hanks in The Davinci Code. Nothing prepares you for the massiveness of The Louvre. It would takes days to walk through all of the exhibits. We best tried to map out what we could/needed to see in the span of a child's nap. Our priorities were Mona Lisa, Napoleon III's Apartment, Venus de Milo, The Egyptian Antiquities and anything that happened to be in this path.

Let the sleeping babies lie, which was a challenge because everything outside

of The Louvre is cobble-stoned which in a stroller can cause partial brain-damage from

the violent bouncing.

We had to actually take a break BEFORE we went in The Louvre.

Too bad the kids were asleep (not really) because they would have really

liked this elevator (the center tube that goes up and down in the center of the stairs)

The only "problem" with the boys being passed out in their strollers

was that we had to 1) take elevators everywhere we went or 2) carry the

strollers up and down the stairs. It sounds so simple as I write this, but The Louvre is

a tricky little fella with its 1/2 floors - that's right, it may look like there are only four

floors, but there are about 1000 different stair cases between those four floors.

We really had no idea how complicated it was going to be until we were balls deep

in museum and there was no turning back.

While I don't have all of the specifics of this story, I do know that The Louvre was

once a residence. Which sounds complete absurd. If I had to walk 3-4 hours to tuck my kids into bed each time, I'd lose my mind. And they didn't even have baby monitors back then.

Each room has ornately decorated/painted ceilings that are unbelievable.

Each room also includes a fireplace. I think Nate spent more time

imagining what it was like to live there and where the secret curly stairs went - which he was fairly confident was up to a secret master bedroom.

Our first visit was to Mona Lisa. I spent much of the weeks leading up to our visit trying to understand why she is so famous. I studied the painting, took the online class that The Louvre offers and learned about subject herself. It is a small work of art housed in a very large room.

It is on its own wall which you can tell has very high-tech security.

All of the thinking and reading and asking around I did before I visited her didn't really matter.

The fact is, when you walk into the room you know she is there before you even see her.

No matter what time of day you visit, there is a very large crowd standing in front of her

and it can take 10 minutes to make your way up to the front.

Whatever it is that draws people to her, it doesn't really matter what it is.

It just is.

I understood what it was as soon as I was standing in front of her and it isn't something that

you can describe or write about, which is probably why I had a hard time understanding and researching it before I went.

These halls were beautiful. Incredibly hot and humid, but beautiful.

About 1/2 way through our tour, we came to this hall. Other than a beautiful

crown and pokey cane thing, I couldn't tell you what was in there because it must have been 95 degrees in there and I had to get out.

This was one of my favorite ceiling/sun windows that I saw in the museum.

I felt surrounded and loved.

I loved the colors used in this piece.

This is Napoleon III's apartment.

Apparently he lived here at some point and it was decorated so way over the top.

A cross between (how I imagine) Michael Jackson and Liberace would have decorated their place had they lived together.

The boys slept for about 3.5 hours. When they woke up, they were both

extremely pissed that they woke up in a museum. Crying, whining, I'm hungry's,

I don't what that, I'm thirsty, I'm tired, I want to go home - we were treated with the works....TIMES TWO.

We had actually seen everything that we wanted to, except Venus de Milo.

I told Nate it was ok, lets go - the kids are grumpy.

Nate wasn't going leave without seeing Aphrodite herself.

Sigh.

We went up stairs, down elevators, through halls, up more elevators,

up more 1/2 stairs only to find we didn't know exactly where she was.

More stairs, more tears, more whining, more elevators and stairs and about 30 minutes

later, we found her.

When we walked into her exhibit, I collapsed on the cold marble floor,

Charlie hysterically sobbing and drooling all over my legs and Henry whining sitting

next to me. We were all way past our breaking points. And I was also on the verge of tears. No I wasn't on the verge, I cried too.

And then I looked up and saw this:

I didn't even know who made her and refused to leave the cold marble floor until

Nate found out who made her. I think I even yelled at him that I wasn't leaving until he could give me this crucial information. He couldn't find this information anywhere in the room, but oh I saw him trying his hardest.

Turns out, no one really knows, but they think she is Aphrodite and she used to

have her arms.

I was totally overcome with emotion, or exhaustion, or history, or awe or sadness for her

lost, broken arms and I was ready to leave.

Thinking back over our day at the Louvre, Venus de Milo was my favorite.

Maybe it was because we were both broken at that point in time.

Or maybe it was because she was just so beautiful.

Naturally, once we exited the glass pyramid, the boys moods

changed considerably. Of course.

For just long enough for us to make our way back by way of the Metro

and back to the Latin Quarter for a late dinner followed by

the worlds best sundae.

It was well deserved.