From the Edge of the Envelope: Louvre

Now that we have all looked up a little....... I think the time has come to enjoy some beauty.

I want to thank those of you who left comments I LOVED it thank you !!!! Now onto the Louvre. There are so many pictures of the Louvre and there are films with it center stage and in the background..... can new territory be found? I find no matter where you are there is always something new......even places we may have tread a million times.

The Louvre was new to me and so I discovered many wonders. I have seen pictures of the Mona Lisa many times and in many forms ( S book Comb Mona Lisa's Hair which has a touch and feel aspect to famous works of art is one of my favorites....)

But to see it in person was still very cool. I personally liked the cieling's of the Louvre the best.

I stood right next to Venus de Milo.....that was cool.......

I saw a sphinx from ancient Egypt...

that was realllllly cool. I love Egyptology ( it's the anthropologist in me )

I have to say that one especially interesting exhibit was the Louvre itself. Before 1500 the Louvre had a completely different look. It was a castle and a medieval castle just as you would picture in a storybook.

This castle was grand a traditional for the period, and very large it even had a moat. Now around the 1500's the King decided times had changed and they torn down the old castle to build what we know today as the Louvre. I find this absolutely fascinating. I guess often times we don't think that even in previous time periods people were into remodeling and updated. I know when in Salzburg I thought it was incredibly interesting that they did "renovations" on buildings in the 1600's..... I wonder if they had a home and garden network..... Ancient landscape architects..... Ok I know a bit silly. I know they had builders etc. But, I guess I think they didn't have time to worry about these things because they were spending energy into growth, wars, conquering, etc. Back to the story.... So the King tore the Castle down and built the one we see today..also very beautiful. When the Louvre added the famous glass pyramid they were renovating and building and on the sight the new builders found the original foundation of the original fortress/castle. Can you imagine !!!! the Louvre put a really cool display up . They excavated the sight cleaned it up ( I mean realllllly cleaned it ) they built this wooden boardwalk and all kinds of interesting models and information areas. The boardwalk that wanders around this foundation is actually in what would have been the castles moat. H really enjoyed this walk. I was impressed with how old the stones were. How clean they were and how interesting it was to walk in a dry moat. The lighting was really impressive though dim enough for the mood but bright enough to feel like it had a special glow.

Our tour was in the morning to see the main highlights of the Louvre we left for lunch at the Eiffel tower. I felt like this was enough time to taste the ambiance of the Louvre. I didn't feel overwhelmed so this was good. P & S enjoyed to moat walk also. But, the Greek sculpture wing was P & S favorite, lots of ooo's and aaa's there.

So when in Paris even if you only do a short tour you should go to see the Louvre because it is more than just art and there are hidden treasures.......even in the ceiling.