The Louvre

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike

One of my favorites is the Winged Victory sculpture. I love the flow and the strength of it. It sits on the landing at the top of the stairs.

The Louvre is a HUGE museum to say the least. Three wings and three floors of nothing but art. We took the metro and arrived through the underground entrance. We skipped any long lines that were above ground. We bought our tickets from a Kiosk and it was very easy. The underground area is impressive. There are beautiful stores, a food court, restrooms and then you get to the section underneath the pyramid were you buy your tickets and enter the museum.

We went on a Wednesday and it wasn't too crowded. The Louvre also stays open late on Wednesdays so that might be why also. Everyone didn't feel as it they had to get up early and see the museum. We picked up a self-guide map and headed for Napolean's Apartments. I wish we would have gotten the audio guide, but for some reason we chose to skip it. This was our last day in Paris and I think everyone was anxious to get going in the museum and just didn't want to take the time to get the guides. If you go, make sure you get them because it helps to know just what you are looking at. We thought there would be a lot of English signs explaining, but there wasn't. If you read French, you'll be alright without one.

These apartments were so amazing. The opulence, the lavish style and the size of the rooms were very impressive. The Louvre was a palace before it was a museum, but I'm not sure if his apartments were there at the same time as the museum.

Incredible detail in the plaster and wood work. Beautiful chandeliers filled the rooms with golden light.

You had to remember to look up as well as along the walls because every ceiling was different and offered it's own version of beauty.

Venus de Milo

We got our map and decided that the Louvre was so big that there was no way to see it all. We opted to see the highlights. Because the highlights were spread throughout the museum, and we got lost several times, I think we saw just about all of the museum. The map to the museum seemed so straight forward and easy to follow. I found it to be a nightmare. We saw so many great works of art as we were whizzing by to get to our next destination on the map. Many times we would end up at a dead end and have to turn around and go back the way we came. As you are about to see, the sculptures were my favorite.

I'm not sure what this one is called, but I liked it. My kids got a huge kick out of it, because I liked a sculpture of little kid strangling a duck.

As mentioned previously, this is one of my favorite sculptures, "Psyche revived by Cupid's kiss"

In the Mesopotamian (I bet you haven't heard that word since 7th grade) art, we found this cute little lion. He reminded us of our dog Daisy and we fell in love.

Delaney loved this brick mosaic of the lion. I pretended to ask the attendant, "How much for this?" and the girls loved it, they were cracking up!

At this point, HH needed to take a little break from all the walking and give his mind a little rest. We had been there for HOURS.

Of course, we had to see the most famous of all, just to say we did. I don't really see the appeal of it, but there you go. That's the great thing about art, it is subjective and what moves one doesn't necessarily move another.

The Three Graces

We continued on throughout the museum, stopping to look at great paintings along the way. The paintings were getting much more attention than the sculptures and there were small crowds that you had to push your way through to get a good look. I think that is why I don't have very many pictures of them.

I wish the Louvre was here, I would go at least once a week and tackle it section by section.