Second day in Paris (Part 2 of 3)

So here we are at day 2 of Aram's crazy trip to Paris. Today's post will be even larger than yesterdays, if that was possible! But luckily, tomorrow should be shorter. Also, this time I have made each picture a thumbnail, so if you want to look at a bigger version of the picture just click on it! So I am starting on Sunday if that helps anyone :-p To the left is a picture of the photographer of most of these pictures, Me! So I hope you enjoy the workings of the marvelous and dasterdly Aram on his amazing and fantastical trip to Paris, Part 2!

So we started our day bright and early at around 7:00! My personal goal was to leave the hostel around 8:30 so that we can be at the Louvre by 9:00. Unfortunately Steven was slow on the uptake and we didn't even get to breakfast until 8:30. I guess I shouldn't expect people to be able to get up really quickly in the mornings, at least as well as I can. So we finally got to the Louvre around 9:30 and the line was crazy long. There were around 100 people in queue just to get in. But somehow, the line was moving ridiculously fast. It took us only around 2 minutes to get in! Steven took a really cool picture of a statue and a water fountain so that it looks like the water is pushing the statue up, so I put it up right here. These statues and fountains were everywhere around the Louvre which was really cool. I personally didn't know what each of the statues were, but they seemed to mean something significant. So the good part about coming this sunday is that the Louvre was free and so it was pretty full. It is free the first sunday of every month which is why I planned our trip around this weekend. It turned out to be the weirdest weekend to choose to come to Paris as you will find out tomorrow. So if you ever plan on going to the Louvre, make sure to go on the first sunday of the month! It may be crowded but then at least you aren't paying 15 euro just to get in.

So the actual entrance to the Louvre was the pyramid itself. So the stairs are literally underneath the large pyramid which is really cool. The actual museum is in the building surrounding the pyramid which is sort of cool. The bottom section of the pyramid is also where you can enter the museum itself. The museum has 3 main sections and you enter them from underground which is pretty neat. The pictures here are of the same staircase from differing views. The one on the left is the stairs from the side with an elevator on the inside of the stairs which was pretty cool. The one to the right is an aerial view almost and you can see the elevator directly in the centre of the stairs. Pretty cool view I think. The pictures from here on will be pictures I took from the museum itself, and are ones I particularly enjoyed, or know about.

Statue of Marcellus By Kleomeles Front View Statue of Marcellus By Kleomeles Back View Emporer Augustus Statue Artist Unknown Victory Statue Artist Unknown

Centaur teased by Eros Artist Unknown Sleeping Hermaphrodite Artist Unknown Back View Sleeping Hermaphrodite Artist Unknown Front View

So all of the statues are just a tiny portion of all the ones that are actually at the Louvre, and I also do have a couple more that will show up just on facebook itself. The statue on the right was my favourite one out of all of them. It was supposed to represent the slave that had given himself totally to his master and had accepted his master even to his dying day. I think that type of devotion is really cool. I understand he was slave and all, but the concept of devotion to the extent that you are together until the day you die, now that is a thought that I would love to live by. Dying Slave By Michaelangelo

Now I am moving on to paintings. The picture to the right shows where most of the paintings I enjoyed were. That whole corridor is 1 kilometer long and is full of Italian paintings. I personally enjoyed Italian paintings the most, especially when they didn't have to do with Jesus. It's sort of funny how a lot of paintings have a lot to do with christianity. I am more of a greek fan but there were some cool Christian paintings. So here are all the paintings I liked. Near the end there are 2 modern art pieces that I included followed briefly by my 3 favourite paintings. Again, most of these pictures are pictures that I personally liked, but I have a few more in my collection and there are countless more in the Louvre.

David and Goliath By Volterra Front View David and Goliath By Volterra Back View Endymion By Anne-Louis Girodet

Interior of a Church By Steenwyck The Bold By Fraggonard The Crowning of Napolean in the Presence of Pope Pious VII By David

So of course one of the most famous pieces in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa. I decided to reluctantly take a picture of Mona Lisa in order to prove I saw it. It was a tiny piece of painting and I couldn't even get really close to take a decent picture due to the large numbers of people trying to look at the painting. That is why my picture is vaguely blurry.You can also notice that there are a lot of people taking pictures of the Mona Lisa. The picture on the right is the whole crowd. I personally don't understand the crazyness over this one painting when there are so many more beautiful paintings in my opinion. But I guess to each his own. And so I looked at the crowd and chose to dismiss it. It was also very heavily guarded. So in the same room as the Mona Lisa is this amazing painting called Marriage Feast at Cana and is painted by Veronese. It's the largest painting in the whole Louvre and was HUGE! It's supposed to be the time when jesus performs his first miracle or something like that. I wasn't fully paying attention, and most things were in French anyway. I personally much more enjoyed this painting than the Mona Lisa, but since the crowd was so big looking a the Mona Lisa, it was difficult to get a good view of this painting. Oh well, maybe another time.

Piece made of pins and nails Egyptian Cups

Young Man Seated Seaside By Flandrin Gallery of the Views of Modern Rome By Pannini The Education of Achillies by the Centaur Chiron By Jean Baptiste Regnualt So these are my favourite paintings in the whole Louvre as far as I could see. I really liked the one with Chiron because it reminded me of DLP and how much I really miss them. I can't wait to get back to Davis so I can chillax with them! The last one is the painting that my mom and stepdad own in their house. Of course they own a replica, but when I saw the one in the Louvre I had to take a picture of it. That painting reminds me of home and how much I miss my family. The one in the centre had to be my most favourite art piece in the whole Louvre. Something about that painting draws me in. I think it's because I am able to relate the painting to my own life that I enjoy it so much. I think if I were to ever buy a replica of any painting, I would probably choose that one. It means a lot to me.

So I am stopping there for today. I will finish Day 2 Night and Day 3 tomorrow. This post has already been long enough with all the pictures. Tomorrow is much less picture intensive, hopefully! So I will see you all again tomorrow for another day in Paris!