Paris - part 2

And back to the Louvre. Today we will focus on sculpture and other non-painting stuff. Oh, besides forgetting about the Venus de Milo, we also decided to skip the wing with the Dutch and other northern paintings. I thought nothing of it at the time (since I've been there before) but then today, eight and a half hours ago to be precise, I became a fan of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hieronymus Bosch. I'll have to pay more attention next time.


Here's Giambologna's Mercury. Or is it? Didn't I see that exact same thing at the Bargello Museum in Florence? Indeed I did. I think I heard that this one is a copy. Then Sarah said to me, "Isn't the copy art as well?" or some such nonsense that I am clearly not qualified to answer. I am only qualified to answer questions about volleyball rules, library classification systems, and tacos.


This is terrible, but I didn't write anything down while we were there. I did take pictures of the information next to the works of art on a few occassions, when I really wanted to remember something. But I can't remember who created this statue. I have seen a couple of similar sculptures in my jaunts around Italy. I think one was in Venice. But I am amazed by the effect created here. To show a veiled face with marble. Well, to be able to show both the veil and the face, that's what I find interesting.


Then there it was, at the top of the steps. Sarah's favorite, and perhaps my favorite (she has too much influence over me). The Nike of Samothrace, or Winged Victory, is from the 3rd century B.C.


More importantly, Sarah and I have a miniature copy back home. It is where Sarah's buckeye beads reside when she is not wearing them.


Sarah does her best impression.


This poor fellow was so bored that he felt compelled to poke his eye out.


Here we are down by the medieval foundations of the Louvre, which was a fortress that was built in the 12th century.


I was checking the walls to see if the foundations would last another 800 years. They looked okay.


Here is a line of baboons. Wait! The one at the end is Kellin.


They have mummies. Human...


and otherwise.


It was getting late by the time we left. Sarah was unhappy because she wanted to see the Coptic room to search for her gesture, but it was closed.
Sarah, Kellin, Mary, and I left with an undergrad named Anne and went in search of dinner. We ended up finding a delicious place near our hotel. I got some kind of meat and French onion soup. But, since we were in France it was just called onion soup. How deceptive.