Uncategorized
Le Louvre (My Favorite Things)
Waiting in the Napoleon Courtyard at the Pyramid for entry into the Musee
(there is more decoration on the building than you could cover in one day)
Winged Venus at the top of the Denon Staircase
(originally this was the staircase into the palace)
The run up to the Mona Lisa
(the painting is a mystery and the hype interests me)
For me the attraction is the painting by Veronese on the opposite wall
(The Largest Painting in Le Louvre)
The Gallerys of Large French Paintings
The Grande Gallery
People Watching and the distracting cell phone users drifting from painting to paint snapping cellphone photos
The Gift Shop
(Some of your best souvenenirs)
The Courtyards, especially the Sculpture Courtyards
The Northern European Art
Rembrant, Vermeer, Van Dyke, Rubens
The places I initially avoid
Ground Floor of Denon (the former stables)
Sully (the former Palace)
Getting Lost at Le Louvre
The Coronation of Napoleon
The Coronation of Napoleon (Jacques-Louis David)
Le Sacre de Napoléon
Musée du Louvre
Denon Wing (South Wing of the Louvre)
1st Floor
Large-Format 19th Century French Paintings Gallery
Room 75 Salle Daru Neoclassicism, France
The Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Joséphine in Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804 (Le Louvre)
You would think that this grand painting engineered by Napoleon himself would be the largest painting in the Louvre
(but you would be wrong)
The largest painting is The Wedding at Cana (Paolo Veronese) positioned opposite the Mona Lisa in the Salle des Etats (Room 771)
Napoleon’s French Revolutionary Army plundered the painting from the Venetians and the French never gave it back
(partly because it is just too big)
Denon Wing (South Wing of the Louvre)
1st Floor
Room 6 Salle des Etats, Italy
Mona Lisa Room
School of Fontainebleau
Presumed Portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées and Her Sister, the Duchess of Villars
https://www.google.com/#q=Gabrielle+d’Estrées+and+One+of+Her+Sisters
https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/gabrielle-d-estrees-and-one-her-sisters
Richelieu wing
2nd floor
The second School of Fontainebleau
Room 824
School of Fountainebleau (Ecole de Fontainebleau)
https://www.google.com/#q=School+of+fountainebleau
First School of Fontainebleau (from 1531)
Second School of Fontainebleau (from 1594)
Boulevard Raspail
During our first stay in Montparnasse, we stayed on Boulevard Raspail
(and we love this street)
We walked North one day and found our favorite Naturalia Health Food store
Eventually walked south to the Montparnasse Cemetery, not one of our favorites
very square and flat, except for the grave of our favorite Soutine
Further south toward Catacombs, which we have yet to visit
One of our favorite sprawling grocery stores, a vendor selling Oysters outside
On a side street is a good street market
We walked into a Boutique to buy the classic French Scarf (after misplacing our current scarf)
Very pleasant experience, tried on several scarfs of different materials. Always attracted to the wool scarfs. They weren’t busy, but they were patient, even showing me how to wear a “Paris” scarf. A long, wide, dark charcoal grey scarf. Maybe 35 Euros, not bad, a very satisfying purchase. Much later, I checked the label – Not Wool, some synthetic substitute (which is probably not a bad thing, because pure wool can be tricky and saggy and high maintenance.
Next morning, North up Boulevard Raspail into Paris. A wonderful boulevard for running. A central median and major market with early morning activity. Boulevard Raspail merges with Rue de Bac in Paris near Musee D’Orsay
We will return to Boulevard Resapail
Novotel Paris
Novotel Paris Les Halles
8 Place Marguerite De Navarre Paris Paris
8 Place Marguerite De Navarre Paris Paris
1 Avenue de la Republique Bagnolet Seine-Saint-Denis
Suite 538 Square Feet
Free Mini Bar
This Room was so spacious that my possessions were scattered about the various rooms and closets (and I left them behind)
Novotel Paris Centre Bercy
85 Rue De Bercy Paris
Novotel Paris La Défense
2 Blvd De Neuilly La Defense 1 Courbevoie Hauts-de-Seine
269sf Executive Room
Novotel Paris Saint Denis Stade Basilique
1 Place De La Porte De Paris Saint-Denis
409sf Suite
Louis XIV of France
Louis 14th (The Sun King)
Our favorite horseback Statute of Louis XIV is in the front courtyard of Versailles
(there also a horseback statute in the courtyard of Le Louvre
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Louis 14th The Sun King
Odalisque
Odalisque refers to a genre of paintings appearing throughout the Museums of Paris
https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/une-odalisque
Louvre
Boucher
Igres
D’Orsay
Renoir
Benjamin-Constant
L’Orangerie
Picasso
Matisse
Centre Pompideau
Martial Raysse
Matisse
Delacroix
Le Pierrot (Louvre)
Pierrot
dit autrefois Gilles
Sully
2 e étage
Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
Salle 917
Jean-Antoine WATTEAU
Valenciennes, 1684 – Nogent-sur-Marne, 1721
http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=10175
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierrot
Towers of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral
Admission into the Tower at Notre-Dame is included with the Paris Museum Pass
Use the Duck-the-Line App instructions dispersed with the Museum Pass
Select the time of your visit early that day on the app
Afterwards, the line is short
The climb is substantial and impressive
(it will test your endurance)
The tower, the gargoyles and even the bells are extraordinary
A really good attraction!
Paris for the Holidays 