The Louvre

We are approaching the Mona Lisa, you can just see her right of center in this photo.

The crowd to the right of the photo is gathered at the Mona Lisa.  At the far end of the room appearing on the left side of the photo is the largest painting in the Louvre, The Wedding at Cannan.

Venus De Milo

The details of the sculptures were amazing.

We had a long list of things we wanted to see and do while we were in France.  Not knowing whether we'd be back or not we didn't want to leave them undone.  On our list was the Louvre, but mainly to say we'd been and we'd seen the Mona Lisa.  Neither R or I are art connoisseurs. . .there is some art we like but we like it because we like it not because it is famous or meets criteria. . .or however art lovers determine what they love.  That is not to say there is no famous art we like because there certainly is, and we saw a lot of it on this trip.  The Louvre was open late on Friday night, until 9:45 pm.  So after dinner we headed to the museum and entered using our Paris Passes.  We approached the information desk to ask for directions to the Mona Lisa, and before even asking, the docent told us which way to go.  We must not be the only ones to slip in just to see "her".  She told us we had twenty minutes before closing.  We headed directly to the room where the Mona Lisa is displayed.  But, on our way overheard where the Venus De Milo was.  We had read about and seen pictures of the Mona Lisa so we weren't disappointed as many are.  We knew it was a rather small painting, under glass, behind cording and in a very large room dwarfed by the other paintings.  Nor is it a painting that we like so, it became like a treasure hunt and was one of the most fun things we did!  Then we headed back to see Venus De Milo. After viewing her, we enjoyed our short time left in the museum, found a sphinx and saw the most amazing sunset.