There's more to the Louvre than Mona Lisa

May 16, 2012
Our days typically begin around 7:30 am with a true French Continental Breakfast. This is great if you like bread. We are served a croissant and a baguette with coffee or hot chocolate. We tend to eat somewhat family style.

Andrea 

  left: Jeanne and Andrea, right: Rebecca, Kristin, Sally and Krista        

Next, we get together in the hotel lobby to make announcements and get ready for the coming day. Today we had to reimburse our students for the audio guides that they bought at the Rodin museum.

 Kristin

After that, we head to the Metro station that is across the street from our hotel and head to our destination. Today it was a full full day at the Louvre.

 While I love the Louvre, I think it is one of the most stressful museums ever! We went first to see the Mona Lisa then it was down the Grand Gallery that houses the Italian Paintings and the Spanish paintings. One of our favorites on this wing was the seasonal "portraits" by Arcimboldo.

Sally

We also enjoyed the large format paintings. Some of these, like the Coronation of Napoleon are quite large.

Completed: 1807 Location: Louvre Artist: Jacques-Louis David Media: Oil paint Dimensions: 244.49" x 385.43" (621 cm x 979 cm)

Here are some pictures of our scholars enjoying the Louvre:

Left: Bobbye, Ariel Right: Sally Jeanne

Alex and Christine

Those of you who read DaVinci Code will remember that this is where the book ended: Right beneath I.M. Pei's inverted glass pyramid.

Dr. Luehrman applied for a "right to speak" permit so that he would be able to take us through some parts of the museum as a group tour and lecture. The Louvre has some special procedures and rules for groups and group leaders. Dr. Luehrman is taking us through the basement of the Louvre where during the excavation for the glass pyramids, they found the foundation of the original Medieval fortress. One of the areas excavated was the dungeon. Below, our scholars are posing for a picture huddled in one of the cells. From left to right, back to front are: Chryssa, Ariel, Rebecca, Christina. Krista, Bobbye and Christine.

Next we went to see the residence of Napoleon III. Here I am showing Chryssa and Alex a State Bed.

The day was VERY LONG and our feet hurt very badly but we were practically dripping with art. Alex joined Sally and I on an adventure to Ile St. Louis in the Seine where we had a great view of the Notre Dame after dark.

Thursday May 17 was our free day. So I took the day off!