Wound up at the Hotel Dream Castle in the morning. Blue skies and bright sunshine. The weather is cold in the mornings to put it mildly. It's like a French Riviera just behind the building. An expanse of green and plenty of sit-out areas for a photo opportunity.
Waited for a cab who was late by a good forty-five minutes. By a quirk of fate, it was the same cab driver with whom we had a brush the previous day. This time,we were certain. He does have a problem with Asians (which he alluded to quite openly the previous day) and makes it a point to talk in a very curt fashion. But we don't want to burn bridges (there are plenty of them over the River Seine) while we're in Paris! He might again be called to drive us to the station tomorrow. Hence, we resist a confrontation. But we make it a point to pick our luggage and get into the Hotel Pavillion without as much as a customary merci. Did find plenty of helpful people too. Hence, don't think there is a "systemic issue" (to borrow a networking phrase) to lose sleep over.
Left the luggage and walked to the metro Villieres (s is silent) which is a good 10 minute walk. Bought a two day metro pass. The feeling of empowerment to travel on our own, and just as we please, needs to be felt after the not so friendly taxi rides!
After two changes of the metro, we were at the "Pyramides". Walked up to the "CityRama" tourist office round the corner. We know many Ramas: Tenali Rama, Daasharathi Rama and "Saapaattu raama (in Tamil)" and panorama of course. It's good to add one more Rama to this list. The tour to the Louvre starts from here.
The office overlooks the Louvre. Had a quick lunch consisting of "baguette" (cardboard masquerading as bread) stuffed with vegetable. We were worried that Saankhya might lose half of her milk teeth over just this meal!
The next two and half hours were handed over to the masterpieces at the Louvre. It is necessary to take a guided tour. We had been to the museum 14 years ago and the general effect on us was quite ordinary then.
Marien was our guide this time. She spoke English with a quaint French accent. Her patience and the interest she took in explaining the signficance of the major works was remarkable.
Outside the Louvre, she pointed out the U shaped facade of the Louvre built by many kings over a period of time: probably 600 years starting from the 12th century. Also, Louvre, the obelisk, the palace de Tuileries and the Arc de Triomple are all arranged in a straight line.
About 45,000 works are currently displayed which comprises only 10% of the actual collection.
Next, she covered the glass pyramid which was built in 1989 by the Chinese American Pei during the time of Francios Mitterand to commemerate 200 years after the French Revolution. This glass pyramid is a controversial structure because it stands out from the rest of the buildings and hence we don't have a uniform opinion about it. The pyramid rests over the reception area presently and lets in natural light as you buy your tickets and select one of the "wings" to explore the museum. We saw the inverted pyramid (also part of the same structure) as we entered the Louvre.
Our first halt was at the Sphinx which was moved to France from Egypt. It was supposed to be a symbol of protection. The head-gear, the false-beard, the snake mark on the head, oval mark on the torso (with hieroglyphics) are indicators that the human head had to be a pharoah's. The Sphnix has a lion's body too.
We saw some towers and a moat in the underground parts of the museum dating to the earliest period (12th century).
Next, we saw some Roman sculptures: Minerva, a child playing with a goose, a man hung on a tree and Diana, the Goddess of hunting. Diana's pose is very similar to Lord Shiva as Kiraata. She also has a deer by her side and the stance with a bow and arrow bear a striking resemblance. I think we have a research topic here which needs to be explored. The detailing in these scuptures is simply amazing.
There are three pieces which should not be missed at the Louvre as per popular literature.
Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo (pronounced "Mailo" not "meelo") and the "Winged victory".
Venus de Milo is a Greek art. The guide explained at length how the torso's axis is tilted to one side and the hips to the other. Also, the weight is entirely on the right leg with the left leg allowed to move. The creases on the cloth are beautiful. The face exudes serenity. Like the Ganpati idols, the hands are made separately and joined. Hence, the arms are currently missing.Two holes indicate that the rest of the arm should have been joined here and concealed with a bracelet.
The winged victory is a headless and footless statue of a lady perched at the edge of a boat. Her pose could have been similar to Leonardo De Caprio's in the film Titanic. The clothes are sculpted as if fluttering in the wind. Again, Raja Ravi Varma's "Rama vanquishing the ocean" at Mysore is very similar in terms of posture. Possibly, he did get his idea from this piece.
Mona Lisa has a place of her own at the gallery: It's not hung with the rest of the paintings in the hall as was the case earlier. It's a medium sized painting and dwarfed by some bigger works in the same hall. But the crowds throng and everyone wants a photograph. Spent some time looking at it. The face is quite "smoky": no edges as in others. Also,like many of Vinci's works, it has a "triangular composition". The earth tones are brown in the foreground, but the blues dominate in the mid-ground and skies.
There's another painting by Leonardo where we spent some time: John the Baptist as a child with Jesus (also as a child) and Mary. Again, a triangular composition and follows the rule of three fourths in darkness and one-fourth in light.
The biggest painting is one showing Jesus's "first miracle" in the same hall as the Mona Lisa. This one has several human figures, dogs and even a dwarf for variety. The expression on some of them is simply amazing.
"Napoleon's coronation" is another famous work. We see Napoleon holding the crown aloft, his wife Josephine kneeling down, the pope seated on one side, Napoleon's brothers on the other side with their wives. One big family get-together and in the absence of group photographs- it would have been a landmark painting. We are told Napoleon's mother was not present, but still forms a part of the painting. They had a different way of photo-shopping in those days!
The progression of art was also nicely explained by Marien: Gothic and religious, neo classicism with themes outside religion like war, and the romantic period where the focus was on the general "feel" of the painting.
The painting in the third category is the "Shipwreck" where we see 15 human beings in various emotions: dejection to hope as one of them spots a ship in the distance to rescue them.
Left the Louvre and crossed the Seine just beside it. The Seine is beautiful: especially how it divides to form the Island de la cite which houses the famous church: Notre Dame.
We hopped onto a bus till the Musee d'Orsay (which has Van Gogh's works) and took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is huge! It's a mass of iron welded together to form the structure so synonymous with Paris and France. Didn't get a chance to go up since our slotted time was 10 pm. We walked over the Seine to the "Trocadero" which has a great view of the Eiffel Tower. If you take a photograph from here, you can cover the Eiffel Tower in full.
Dead tired. The children have done exceedingly well to pull through this whole day with minimum fuss. As far as Usha is concerned, she is the backbone. Good at directions, good at taking spot decisions so that we never made a false move through out the day. Otherwise, Paris can be killing with places sprawled out so far apart, that a single bad move can cost you an hour of painful walking just to retract your steps!
The rice cooker is a life-saver. Ate rice with MTR's puliyogare mix and Dannon's yogurt for dinner.
Waited for a cab who was late by a good forty-five minutes. By a quirk of fate, it was the same cab driver with whom we had a brush the previous day. This time,we were certain. He does have a problem with Asians (which he alluded to quite openly the previous day) and makes it a point to talk in a very curt fashion. But we don't want to burn bridges (there are plenty of them over the River Seine) while we're in Paris! He might again be called to drive us to the station tomorrow. Hence, we resist a confrontation. But we make it a point to pick our luggage and get into the Hotel Pavillion without as much as a customary merci. Did find plenty of helpful people too. Hence, don't think there is a "systemic issue" (to borrow a networking phrase) to lose sleep over.
Left the luggage and walked to the metro Villieres (s is silent) which is a good 10 minute walk. Bought a two day metro pass. The feeling of empowerment to travel on our own, and just as we please, needs to be felt after the not so friendly taxi rides!
After two changes of the metro, we were at the "Pyramides". Walked up to the "CityRama" tourist office round the corner. We know many Ramas: Tenali Rama, Daasharathi Rama and "Saapaattu raama (in Tamil)" and panorama of course. It's good to add one more Rama to this list. The tour to the Louvre starts from here.
The office overlooks the Louvre. Had a quick lunch consisting of "baguette" (cardboard masquerading as bread) stuffed with vegetable. We were worried that Saankhya might lose half of her milk teeth over just this meal!
The next two and half hours were handed over to the masterpieces at the Louvre. It is necessary to take a guided tour. We had been to the museum 14 years ago and the general effect on us was quite ordinary then.
Marien was our guide this time. She spoke English with a quaint French accent. Her patience and the interest she took in explaining the signficance of the major works was remarkable.
Outside the Louvre, she pointed out the U shaped facade of the Louvre built by many kings over a period of time: probably 600 years starting from the 12th century. Also, Louvre, the obelisk, the palace de Tuileries and the Arc de Triomple are all arranged in a straight line.
About 45,000 works are currently displayed which comprises only 10% of the actual collection.
Next, she covered the glass pyramid which was built in 1989 by the Chinese American Pei during the time of Francios Mitterand to commemerate 200 years after the French Revolution. This glass pyramid is a controversial structure because it stands out from the rest of the buildings and hence we don't have a uniform opinion about it. The pyramid rests over the reception area presently and lets in natural light as you buy your tickets and select one of the "wings" to explore the museum. We saw the inverted pyramid (also part of the same structure) as we entered the Louvre.
Our first halt was at the Sphinx which was moved to France from Egypt. It was supposed to be a symbol of protection. The head-gear, the false-beard, the snake mark on the head, oval mark on the torso (with hieroglyphics) are indicators that the human head had to be a pharoah's. The Sphnix has a lion's body too.
We saw some towers and a moat in the underground parts of the museum dating to the earliest period (12th century).
Next, we saw some Roman sculptures: Minerva, a child playing with a goose, a man hung on a tree and Diana, the Goddess of hunting. Diana's pose is very similar to Lord Shiva as Kiraata. She also has a deer by her side and the stance with a bow and arrow bear a striking resemblance. I think we have a research topic here which needs to be explored. The detailing in these scuptures is simply amazing.
There are three pieces which should not be missed at the Louvre as per popular literature.
Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo (pronounced "Mailo" not "meelo") and the "Winged victory".
Venus de Milo is a Greek art. The guide explained at length how the torso's axis is tilted to one side and the hips to the other. Also, the weight is entirely on the right leg with the left leg allowed to move. The creases on the cloth are beautiful. The face exudes serenity. Like the Ganpati idols, the hands are made separately and joined. Hence, the arms are currently missing.Two holes indicate that the rest of the arm should have been joined here and concealed with a bracelet.
The winged victory is a headless and footless statue of a lady perched at the edge of a boat. Her pose could have been similar to Leonardo De Caprio's in the film Titanic. The clothes are sculpted as if fluttering in the wind. Again, Raja Ravi Varma's "Rama vanquishing the ocean" at Mysore is very similar in terms of posture. Possibly, he did get his idea from this piece.
Mona Lisa has a place of her own at the gallery: It's not hung with the rest of the paintings in the hall as was the case earlier. It's a medium sized painting and dwarfed by some bigger works in the same hall. But the crowds throng and everyone wants a photograph. Spent some time looking at it. The face is quite "smoky": no edges as in others. Also,like many of Vinci's works, it has a "triangular composition". The earth tones are brown in the foreground, but the blues dominate in the mid-ground and skies.
There's another painting by Leonardo where we spent some time: John the Baptist as a child with Jesus (also as a child) and Mary. Again, a triangular composition and follows the rule of three fourths in darkness and one-fourth in light.
The biggest painting is one showing Jesus's "first miracle" in the same hall as the Mona Lisa. This one has several human figures, dogs and even a dwarf for variety. The expression on some of them is simply amazing.
"Napoleon's coronation" is another famous work. We see Napoleon holding the crown aloft, his wife Josephine kneeling down, the pope seated on one side, Napoleon's brothers on the other side with their wives. One big family get-together and in the absence of group photographs- it would have been a landmark painting. We are told Napoleon's mother was not present, but still forms a part of the painting. They had a different way of photo-shopping in those days!
The progression of art was also nicely explained by Marien: Gothic and religious, neo classicism with themes outside religion like war, and the romantic period where the focus was on the general "feel" of the painting.
The painting in the third category is the "Shipwreck" where we see 15 human beings in various emotions: dejection to hope as one of them spots a ship in the distance to rescue them.
Left the Louvre and crossed the Seine just beside it. The Seine is beautiful: especially how it divides to form the Island de la cite which houses the famous church: Notre Dame.
We hopped onto a bus till the Musee d'Orsay (which has Van Gogh's works) and took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is huge! It's a mass of iron welded together to form the structure so synonymous with Paris and France. Didn't get a chance to go up since our slotted time was 10 pm. We walked over the Seine to the "Trocadero" which has a great view of the Eiffel Tower. If you take a photograph from here, you can cover the Eiffel Tower in full.
Dead tired. The children have done exceedingly well to pull through this whole day with minimum fuss. As far as Usha is concerned, she is the backbone. Good at directions, good at taking spot decisions so that we never made a false move through out the day. Otherwise, Paris can be killing with places sprawled out so far apart, that a single bad move can cost you an hour of painful walking just to retract your steps!
The rice cooker is a life-saver. Ate rice with MTR's puliyogare mix and Dannon's yogurt for dinner.
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