The Musee du Louvre - June 2



Inside the pyramid entrance
looking out

 On arrival we entered through the glass pyramid in the center of the courtyard.  This view is looking back up through the ground level pyramidal entrance.  In the background, you can see one of the Louvre's three wings -- it's either the Sully, Richelieu, or the Denon.  Each wing has four levels with seven departments, so tomorrow, day 3, we plan to see each and every one of the 35,000 pieces of art.


Did the first pyramid just collapse?



Architect Ieoh Ming Pei  designed the large, glass, ground level, pyramid entrance that caused so much hullabaloo when it was built in '89.   When you go underground, you see it has a counterpart amongst dozens of shops and a food court.






Under the Louvre
(sounds like a boardwalk song)

  By the time we arose on the second day, had breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, walked to and around the Eiffel Tower and then walked the Seine to the Louvre, we were somewhat spent, so we entered its cool, marble, underground to sit and have a cool drink, when we noticed these two scrolls of upcoming exhibitions. 

Handsome, young celebrity???
on the left

Underground, we visited the shops, ate, and drank then drank some more (it was a hot day).  By the time we were ready to visit the wings, it was late, we were tired, and it was miles to go.
We decided to leisurely stroll the distance home, so we exited the way we came in.  We saw this celebrity in front of the calves' livers sculpture and snapped his picture.




 

A wing entrance

Outside the entrance you get a taste of the Renaissance architecture that began as a 12th century hunting lodge.







The Louvre's courtyard

 Walking farther away you get more comprehensive view of the horseshoe that is the three winged Louvre




Louvre courtyard from
 a city block away

 From an even greater distance, you can see that each wing is over a city block long and three stories tall; it is breathtakingly beautiful, not to mention that the Louvre's collection began with twelve stolen Italian works of art, including Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa -- who says crime doesn't pay.







Monument to Napoleon

 Turning away from the Louvre we walked back toward our hotel on another esplanade that continued for a couple miles.  The first stop on the walk is a miniature Arc de Triomphe dedicated to Napoleon.  My guess is that he planned this one before his ego took over  and he planned the famous monument to his military prowess, the Arc de Triomphe at the head of Avenue des Champs-Elysees.  



A tree hedge

 A unique and interesting landscape technique caught my eye.  The French plant trees close enough that they will grow together, then prune secondaries to start at 10' off the ground, followed by pruning like a hedge.  The result can be seen at the right




Hercules, what a guy!

 Statuary is everywhere; however, had Hercules shown up in this park dressed like this, well...







A city pool just for relaxation

 Just prior to walking out the gates to this esplanade, we came to a small pool that attracts many locals.  The pool was no more than a city block across.











  All the esplanades are tree filled with benches everywhere and restaurants in and among the trees, not quite as charming as the huge emphasis on public landscaping in  Santa Maria, but magical and pleasing none the less.

Still on the way back to the hotel we noticed that the statuary was never small or...

  
simple... 






 I don't know the details; however, this statue states that is was donated by American elementary school children.






Hollywood still loves Paris

 

Getting closer to our hotel, we came across a working movie set.

It was almost 2100 when we finally arrived back at our hotel.  Our shoes were smoking from all the walking so we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant rather than venture out for another dinner on the town.  And, what a dinner it was especially Carol's vegetarian lasagna; Carol couldn't eat the last portion of her meal so Ralph pitched in and cleaned up her plate, which leads us into day 3.  The itinerary for day three was to return to the Louvre and see all the famous art work we could take in in one day.











On the way to the Musee du Louvre - June 2





  

As you walk the banks of the Seine on your way to the Louvre you see the darnedest things:

like boats,







and bridges with outrageous stone bas reliefs;

and bridges with gold bas reliefs;

and golden winged horses being ushered around by some golden goddess brandishing a sword

Then there are these beautiful cherubs posing (in the nude no less) on a very ornate lamp post.
























In the middle of this ornate bridge are more cherubs who appear to be jumping into the river. 

From the bridge we saw a very large, very old, government building and it looked as though some successful French lobbyist or marketing firm had gained sole rights to an ad campaign -- on the building proper.

Then we came across this odd tradition of placing a commercial lock on the guard rails. 

The locks were replete with initials and other love signs painted on them.  Paris, the "City of Love", go figure.

We also saw some less expensive tour boats that we think may have taken on water from time to time.

When it was too late we found there was a far better way to tour than walking.

Sure 'nough here is that government building now directly across the river from us, let's see what our tiny camera's telephoto will show us:

Yep, it is a huge huge marketing poster and another beautiful and huge success for capitalism.

Then we saw this beautiful, old, end-cap of a building and it was, sure enough

one end of the horse shoe style construction the
French call the Musee du Louvre

 -- we knew we had arrived and it only took one week of walking to get here but remember on the map every cute little thing is right next to every other cute little thing.

So, dehydrated and with no soles left on his shoes, Ralph walked around this end-cap of a building and discovered that this wing of the Louvre was only five miles long -- surprise, surprise -- he is headed for cartography to kill a map maker just as a gesture of love.

The Louvre with its modern glass pyramid is truly spectacular

and it is huge...

four wings with four floors each and this isn't counting the huge underground mall where you can buy Louvre souvenirs or a Big Mac.

And, again with the statues.  I think a lot of painters and sculptors were auditioning when this place was built.

and what's with the women's aero-squadron?

And, then we went into an underground entrance -- that was a mistake...

Eiffel Tower - June 2



Bldgs. flanking both sides
 of the  northern entry
 to the Eiffel Tower and its esplanade 



I think the French copied a lot of Santa Maria's architecture.  Don't you see the resemblance to the Santa Maria Mall?

Our first view of the
world's
tallest antenna

From this huge tiled entryway, you get your first breathtaking glimpse of the Tower.
Honestly, don't you think that as a child Gustave Eiffel had issues with lightning?  Or, perhaps his parents wouldn't buy him a real Erector Set, so he built this 7,000 ton, 1,050 ft. compensation model.







Ralph vs The Tower

There are no short people in the
Tilton family.  Here is living proof that Ralph is as tall as the first floor of the Eiffel Tower even when he is hunched over.  (Notice the cool shades?)

Looking back at the
humble north entry designed in the
unpretentious French tradition




The Tour Eiffel and
Parc du Champs de Mars
(what I call the esplanade,  I
think its so much more French)

This is the beginning of the esplanade where you can walk, bike, and sometimes get run over on your way to get under this 7,000 ton steel structure that was inaugurated in 1889 and built to last 20 years.

If you come here, be sure you bring water and comfortable shoes as you cannot even see the famous building at the other end of the esplanade in this picture because it is so far away.



Looking back at the north entry
and that tiled deck



If Santa Maria had picked Paris as her "sister city" we'd have had some real fountains.



A real, honest to God,
Merry-go-'round

Again, in the unpretentious French tradition: a gold emblazoned, musical, double deck merry-go-'round with enough ponies so every child in Paris could ride at once.  This thing just pops up outta nowhere, on your walk to the tower, so of course we bought an ice cream cone and rode on it.  Wouldn't you? Why a merry-go-'round you ask?  Well, I think this property belonged to royalty or Michael Jackson.



Is it the Thames, the Voltava, 
the Rhine, or the Seine?

Here's the "iron lady" from across the river Siene .  We all know that the Tower has been a target of some religious fundamentalist radicals; however, it is never so clear as when you walk merrily across this wide bridge and come face-to-face with camouflaged, armed-to-the-teeth, flak-jacketed, carbine carrying, French soldiers patrolling the area three abreast, and not one of them  smiling -- go figure.

Crossing the bridge
you can wave at the
rich people taking
boat tours on the river

 If you have time (we didn't) a boat tour on the Seine would reveal some interesting places and facts about this beautiful and awe inspiring city.

Standing beneath is 
truly overwhelming

It  was disappointing to find out that I wasn't even as tall as the Tower's first floor -- oh well.
I know it is written; however, I cannot believe that many Parisians including author Guy de Maupassant launched petitions to prevent the "iron lady's" construction calling it a "hollow candlestick", a "bald umbrella", and a "monstrous construction."  Especially, when on the other hand, she is called the "queen of Paris.

How's the view 
straight up
dead center 
from ground level

Even though I shuddered with the fear of exposing my weirdness, I had to take this picture to show some of the 18,000 metal sections put together with 2.5 million rivets.  I nearly fainted when I discovered that the second floor blocked my view to the top.



On the esplanade looking back



Carol is our family photographer (Ralph is the writer with the weird sense of humor)  and looking at this shot you can understand why she's the photographer:  I think it is truly a beautiful composition.

Gustave Eiffel's famous
Tower and beloved
symbol of France

This is it, the whole ball of steel, in all its glory; it is a spectacular feat of  creative iron engineering -- the mother of all metal sculptures.

























Any angle, still beautiful

Sure it is hard, cold steel, but from every angle it is also a thing of beauty and you remember what John Keats said about that: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.

.



If you look closely
you will see people
on the Tower waving
to us as we leave.

With this French symbol forever etched in our memories, we waved goodbye and moved on to the Musee du Louvre.*

*Warning to all travelers:
Travel maps show the neat places that you want to see all close together.  You must see through this deception or carry a bottle of Advil and a canteen of water with you at all times.

Arrival in Paris- June 1

 

Day one, arrival, backside of
Marriott Hotel, Paris 

This view is looking out our window down to the Marriott courtyard and the roof of the infamous restaurant.  You can even see the table where we sat for dinner on the second night (more about that later).








Carol in courtyard on arrival



 Carol is a little weary; the company we contracted with to transport us from the airport to the hotel had a toll free number to call when arriving at the airport.  After she figured out how to use the phone, she could get only French speaking operators.  The toll free call:  $44.   When finally getting through, the transporter provided their regrets that they would be unable to pick us up!  Cab fare, airport to hotel,  51.70 Euros ($73.00).  The look on Carol's face, priceless.  (I wouldn't want to work for Expedia.com's customer relations dept. when we get back to the States.)



 

Happy happy Ralph

Ralph is smiling; he is happy (to be alive).  The plane from Prague to Paris was take-off delayed 40 minutes, which of course didn't amuse passengers with connecting flights.  While the take off was "wheels up" fast, the banging noise outside the aircraft on climb-out disconcerting, and the airspeed seemed unusually high for a commercial flight, it was the carrier deck landing that finally cleared up Ralph's constipation. 
Consequently, he thought the smooth, slow taxi ride to the hotel was marvelous at any cost.



France is where you
 come to lose weight

First night's dinner, outdoors on the Victor Hugo Plaza was like a fantasy; we had a foie gras appetizer, a bottle of fine French wine (Ralph thought he had ordered 2-glasses, which accounted for the smile on the waiter's face), unbelievable entrees, and espresso with French pastries for dessert.
We people watched and vehicle watched, what insightful observations.  There are a lot of bicycles, motor scooters, motorcycles, Smart cars, very small coupes and sedans, and a tiny hand full of full sized sedans.  The reason is also priceless:
gas @$8.00/gallon.
It also appears in Europe that you do not need any driver training or a driver's license; the requirements are a Jekyll and Hyde personality (Hyde being a NASCAR driver on steroids), a heavy right foot that moves with lightening speed between the accelerator and the brake, a 'tude with a loud voice and matching vocabulary, and of course a horn -- a really good horn.  Every "trip" even if it is just to the corner grocery must be considered the final points race for this season.  Where is the Highway Patrol or State Troopers you ask?  Apparently, there's one in Germany and one in Spain.  How many do you think you need?






View from restaurant across
 the vehicles only"Plaza", 
French for round-about



Seems to me that the basic difference between the "round-abouts" in Santa Maria and Paris is that Santa Maria's are kind of lavish with the tree, grass, and two lanes.