Paris tour - The Louvre

We alighted at the Concorde metro station. The weather again was good, and the traffic was yet to pick up. After asking directions, we walked for about 15 minutes and reached the gates of a huge park. Most part of the ground was sandy. It was spotlessly clean though. We took some photographs and admired the various sculptures placed there. We then walked ahead and came to a much greener part of the park. This was a tulip garden. The lawns looked beautiful and even more did the different kinds of tulips cultivated there. It was really silent there, except for the birds chirping. Again, the sculptures around there were magnificent.

After enjoying the sight, sound and smell of the tulip garden, we crossed a duck pond and went over to see a tall erect structure. This was an Obelisk. History says that it was presented to the French by the Egyptians. The inscriptions and symbols on that Obelisk cleared any doubts that I had. The Arc du Triumph was visible at a distance. It is said, that when Napoleon Bonaparte won his battles, his army would enter the city through that Arc. The road that lay between us and the Arc is the famed Champs Elysees. We thought of going there later in the day.

We turned back and walked towards the Tulip garden and then crossed a street and stood in front of a gigantic building. It wasn’t its height but the length that amazed me. We were witnessing the world’s largest art museum THE LOUVRE. We entered a glass pyramid in front of the Louvre. This served as the entrance. We bought tickets and then began our journey through the history of art.

For the next five and a half hours, we saw arguably the most aesthetic things man has ever made. Still we could cover just about 20 percent of the Louvre. People say, it takes about a week to completely tour the Louvre. We saw Spanish paintings first then some sculptures. Then we moved on to the French art galleries. There was so much to see; each work of art in a class of its own. We were relentlessly clicking away with our cameras. We also saw some art students getting lectures from a professor. Some of them were sketching the portraits they saw there. I marveled at their wonderful ability.

We next went to the Italian section. The paintings continued to impress me. But, what stunned me the most were the paintings made on the ceilings. Complete to every single detail, it left me and I’m sure many others there in a daze. We then came to a grand hall, which was extremely crowded. We entered it to discover that it was where the great Leonardo Da Vinci’s work of art was on display. Mona Lisa stared us in the eye. There was security fence kept there about 15 feet from the painting. It’s about a 4 by 3 feet big portrait of a (I don’t know if I can call her beautiful) lady. Cameras kept flashing. People just didn’t seem to get enough of Mona. Well, in my opinion it’s just another painting. Run of the mill, I’d say. I thought the other paintings in the Louvre were much better. Nevertheless, we too clicked quite a few of her pictures.

We then saw some more of Da Vinci’s work, and moved ahead. We saw the Egyptian sculptures, some Persian work of art, and so on. We then came to the English art gallery. Here we saw the coronation crown and other precious jewels of the Queen. I was stunned for a second, as I stood in front of things worth millions. We then toured the chambers of Napoleon. It was regal. On one of the ceilings hung a chandelier, which was easily the biggest I’ve ever seen.

We wrapped up our visit, with a trip to Babylonia. This was a section where paintings and historical notes were preserved. All of them, referred to Babylon; a city which was believed to be heaven on earth, the most prosperous one which every king wanted to have.

There was a lot more to be seen, but we ran out of time. With a hope of revisiting it sometime in future, we left the Louvre. It was exhausting, but well worth it. We then went to Champs Elysees, had some snack at a side walk café and just strolled around to see shops of some of the biggest brands in the world. No wonder it’s touted as the most expensive street in the world. Shopper’s paradise; provided you have that much to spend. One of our friends we made in France picked us up from there. We did some more sight seeing around Paris. It was almost midnight when we reached our hostel. We immediately fell asleep, and we had to as the next morning we had planned to visit DISNEYLAND.