Wednesday July 29
It wasn't until I was in Paris that I realized I had married an art lover. I mean, I would say most people can appreciate art. For a little while anyway. But I didn't know how much Scott appreciated it until we were in a city full of art museums. He wanted to go to all of them! And for HOURS on end. I'm not talking about breezily strolling through the Louvre, glancing here and there at the beautiful paintings, and enjoying a nice cultural experience. I'm talking about standing around for hours (on concrete floors by the way- in flip flops), studying each painting, and reading the descriptions- which were all written in French! At first I thought it was fun, I felt very traveled and cultural. We saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus d' Milo, and tons of Monets, Da Vincis, and Picassos. But then after several hours of culture, you start to think that maybe you've had enough culture, and then realize that hey, this culture would be a lot more interesting if there was a glass or two of wine to go with it. But alas, there was no wine to be had :-(
Ancient Hieroglyphics
A few of the amazing, ornate ceilings in the Louvre
My sister Megan told me that she had heard that if you walked through the Louvre, and just glanced at each exhibit in there, it would take you 9 months to see it all. 9 months! When she told me that, I thought, yeah right. But after actually going through it and seeing it for myself, oh, my gosh was she right! It was INSANELY ginormous.
This is one staircase in one stairwell of one of the many levels of the Louvre. How majestic is this? And it's a STAIRWELL! Unbelievable.
So, after a few hours of all this culture, I couldn't stand anymore. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate it, or find it amazing and beautiful- because it was! It was just..... SO much of it. So, so, so, so much of it. It's kind of like eating a piece of rich, gooey, decadent chocolate cake. The sight and smell of the cake is so appetizing, so gorgeous, so heavely that it makes your mouth water just to LOOK at it. Then you take a bite of that moist, chocolatey goodness, and it is literally just the absolute best cake you've ever eaten. The next bite is just as good, just as rich. Same with the third, maybe even the fourth. Then on the fifth bite, it's still wonderful, but your mouth has finally gotten over the shock of the chocolate heaven, and now it's just very good. And the sixth bite is still good, just not as good as the first few. By the time you've finished it, you think, wow... did I really eat that whole big piece? And then you start to feel that slight twinge of nausea, from having eaten too much of a good thing. Well, imagine art as a piece of that cake. So fabulous for the first couple of bites, or hours. But then, imagine eating that WHOLE big chocolate cake. That's the Louvre. Too much of a good thing will make you sick. At least, it made me sick. Scott seemed to be enjoying every lip smacking bite and wanted to go back and lick the plate.
Finally after a few hours, I had to drag him out of there before my feet and legs just wore out from sheer exhaustion of constant standing, standing, standing (again, on concrete, in flip flops).
One room with a collection of statues. Notice the hard concrete floors. Ow.
After we left the Louvre. Notice the look of relief on my face!
After all that culture, we decided we needed to go to one of our favorite cultural spots.... a piano bar! Oh, how we love those piano bars. Everyone is happy, singing, and having the time of their lives. There is no sadness, no stress, no aching legs and feet; there's nothing ever wrong in the magical land of the piano bar. We found a great one and sat at the bar and listened to a French guy sing American songs with a thick French accent. It was so much fun!
After a couple hours of enjoyment, our stomachs told us that it was time to fill up on something other than that illustrious chocolate cake. To make our evening of culture complete, we decided on the number one cultural icon that began a century ago and is still going strong:
The carry out pizza. Mmm, mmm!
Bonsoir, Pari! See you in the morning!
