A (cold) Morning at the Louvre January 29, 2010

While in Paris, you have to go to the Louvre, even if you have been before! So I lined up with lots of other folks on a crispy sunny day waiting for the doors to open at 9 a.m.! How naive I was to think there would be no one there in the middle of the winter...Below are some of the highlights of my three hours spent there:

Napoleon's Throne Chair






































View from the 2nd floor window of the opposite wing of the Louvre















The Eiffel Tower and Les Tuileries from the 2nd floor















The Last Supper by Frans II Pourbus 1618















L'Adoration des Bergers by Jusepe de Ribera 1650




















L'Annonciation by Guido Reni ~1629




















Le Repentir de Saint Joseph by Alessandro Tiarini 1617-19




















Artist copying La Peche by Annibale Carracki 1585-88















Les Pelerins d'Emmaiis by Tiziano Vecellio (Titien) ~1530. Note the salt in the shape of a pyramid: "You are the salt of the earth". Jesus is shown here with Luke and Cleophas.















Wedding at Cana by Paola Caliari 1562-3
















And of course...Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci...behind bullet-proof glass, on her own wall in the middle of the Salle des Etats about 20 feet+ back from the wooden railing...she appears to be smaller than ever!




















Finally, Winged Victory (2nd Century B.C. marble statue of the Greek goddess Nike)




















Friends of ours who live in Paris have a season's pass to the Louvre and are methodically checking off their favourite rooms. It's estimated that it would take at least nine months to even just glance at every piece of artwork in the world's largest museum! Bonne chance!