Bonjour! Welcome to day 2 in Paris (Sunday, March 27th), which consisted of visiting the famous Louvre museum and Notre Dame cathedral. If you haven't read about day 1, then click here; if you have, then enjoy!
Unreal blue skies in Paris that day. This is the first courtyard area we walked into; you can see the museum's entrance through the archway.
You actually go underground to enter the museum into Hall Napoléon, then proceed up sets of escalators to each of the 3 different exhibit entrances: Richelieu, Sully, and Denon. These different entrances take you to different corresponding sections of the museum. You can see the buildings for Richelieu and Denon on either side of the pyramid in the above picture.
"The Winged Victory of Samothrace"
Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities: Hellenistic Art (3rd-1st centuries BC)
When entering almost any museum or church in Europe, don't forget to look up.
Mom enjoying some art.
Ah yes, the infamous Mona Lisa. There was a crowd and a half around this one - popular lady. I'm not sure what the debate is all about, because she's definitely smiling. My dad kept referring to the painting so casually as "Mona", which made me laugh. "Let's go see Mona". So, no big deal, but my dad's on a first name basis with the Mona Lisa.
Fragment of the frieze of the Temple of Artemis Leukophryene at Magnesia ad Maeandrum.
The forty-three panels of the Ionic frieze of the Temple of Artemis Leukophryene make up the largest group of architectural sculptures in the Louvre.
Took a close-up of this one simply because I liked it.
Joseph Ducreux's self-portait. You may recognise this painter from around the internet.
This guy. You know you're an internet kid when this excites you almost as much as seeing the Mona Lisa. Almost.
"The Department of Egyptian Antiquities presents vestiges from the civilizations that developed in the Nile Valley from the late prehistoric era (c. 4000 BC) to the Christian period (4th century AD)."
- http://www.louvre.fr/en/departments/egyptian-antiquities
Left: the Crown of Louis XV
Right: the emerald and diamond tiara of Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
It was a beautiful day out in Paris when we left the Louvre. We were lucky to hit this good weather just in time for a walk to the Notre Dame and then back to our car to top off the trip.
Like the Eiffel Tower, it is so difficult to explain just how amazing the cathedral is in person and to capture it in pictures. I guess you'll have to go see for yourself. Due to a crazy amount of people surrounding the cathedral on Easter weekend, we unfortunately weren't able to make it inside. Time was limited and the lines were just way too long to tackle. Yet another reason why I'll have to return to Paris some day.
Some funny little gargoyles sticking out from the walls. Educational fact time: the purpose of gargoyles in architecture is actually to draw water away from the roof to prevent rainwater from running down the walls and eroding the mortar.
The Notre Dame was among the first buildings in the world to use flying buttresses, which are those arches you can see acting as support between the inner and outer walls. Initially, they weren't a part of the design, but the thinner walls (popularized in Gothic style) paired with their height called for extra support.
The very last stop on our way back to the parking garage was a little corner gelato shop called Amorino. I opted for a scoop of coffee and a scoop of speculoos - no regrets. This was the best ice cream I've had in a very long time.
Enjoy my beautifully chipped nail polish.
That wraps up our weekend in Paris! I hope you've enjoyed my short narratives and extensive photos so far. Coming (hopefully) soon(-ish) are my trips to Brugge and Dublin, but I'm off to Barcelona on Thursday, so I make no time-specific promises...
Thanks for reading :)
- Alexandra
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