Louvre

When Marc's sister Lisa and her son Sam were in town, we took them to the Louvre.

 

There is just so much to see. The tour guide on the Bateaux Mouches told us that, if you spent two months, day and night, walking through the Louvre, you would only be able to look at each work of art for 5 seconds!

 

We figured they would want to see the Mona Lisa, so we started in that direction.

 

Because Max had already been to the Louvre twice this visit - including a guided tour - and also because he is a great big brother, he played games with Eva and generally kept her occupied so that I could enjoy the visit more.

The Mona Lisa is always surrounded by huge crowds with their cameras, phones, and tablets. And people taking self-portraits with her. It's crazy. Lisa tried to talk Marc into having his picture taken with her and Mona, but he wasn't having it. I took a picture of her and Sam instead.

This room is filled with paintings that I love. A sample:

I love this whole painting, but this time I was struck by the waves around the falling-apart raft.

Of course, we saw a field trip. I cannot imagine being in charge of a group of kids in the Louvre!

I love the artist's hand and paintbrushes. Not pictured: he had his ear pierced! Several of us noticed this and thought it seemed anachronistic.

an inner courtyard

cousins discussing art

We all agreed this statue looks like he's taking a selfie with his phone. I don't know what he's really doing.

But he does have reason to be pleased with himself.

I enjoy watching people studying the art. I wondered what they were seeing.

They were seeing this couple examing a butterfly together.

It was raining really hard! I was glad we were inside.

I remember seeing this statue before, but I didn't remember her holding her foot like she was in pain.

Then Max pointed out that she had probably just been bitten by this scorpion! Ohhhhh. I hadn't approached that side before.

I know I. M. Pei's pyramid has been the subject of controversy, but I love it.