Paris Week 2 - 7/15, The Louvre and a Bar-B-Que

We got an early start today to avoid the crowds, but it's the Louvre... one cannot avoid crowds there.  The place is HUGE!  The entrance is through a set of shops and restaurants (including the 1st Starbucks we've seen) after getting off the metro.

We got an English map and tried to do the Rick Steves suggested tour; Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, etc.  Even with the map and museum people stationed strategically throughout the halls - we got lost. 

There are at least 10 'collections' one could try to see.  The museum has 4 floors and each floor is separated into 3 huge sections (Denon, Sully, and Richelieu each of which are again broken into rooms and sub-sections.  It will make you tired just looking at the map and walking around will make you crazy because it doesn't seem to conform well with the map.

Anyway, the Mona Lisa was nice; the milling and pushing crowd made it difficult to truly take it in.  

These 3 paintings are simple examples of the range of items to see and these are just ones that struck my eye.

We spent a lot of time in the sculpture collections. 

Venus was quite striking and, as Rick Steves indicates... you can see where the halves of her are stuck together at the robe on her hips.







There were hundreds of other sculptures around a main gallery.  Here are a few of them:

 The summer is probably the worst time to visit... I would like to see either Spring or Fall and return to the Louvre to sit and ponder specific items. 

We stopped on the way home and found a bright charcoal grill on sale, picked up some steaks at the Marly-le-Roi butcher, opened a bottle of Cote du Rhone (Domaine Chamfort 2009 Vacqueyras) we found at "Inter Caves" in Le Port Marly, and had a Bar-Be-Que.  The steaks were a bit tough, but it felt good to grill at the end of a beautiful day and the wine was Incredible.