The Louvre, lots to marvel at

The Louvre, like the Eiffel Tower, is an attraction (if it’s even fair to call the Louvre an “attraction”) that fully lives up to its reputation. The art contained within the Musée is fabulous and unique and varied, but the buildings, structures, statues, and gardens that make up the Louvre are equally as impressive. Murals on the ceilings, sculpture on the walls, marble flooring, intricate carpeting, cavernous rooms, tapestries, and natural lighting. It all worked together for a wonderful experience.

Pictures from the Louvre:

- Venus de Milo. This room was packed with people trying to take pictures of this famous sculpture, but I ended up getting a really good shot. Like the Louvre itself, this lived up to the expectations.

- Discus thrower, detail of hand holding the discus. This is one of my favorite photos from the trip.

- Egyptian painting, year unknown. Seeing these ancient paintings up close was amazing.

- Sculpture of Athena. This thing was huge.

- Youth with ball.

- Detail of a gold-encrusted box. I can’t recall what this box was, what time period it was from, or where it was from. There was so much to see that I couldn’t stop to fully appreciate everything (or even 10% of everything).

- Detail of hieroglyphics. Again, I don’t know the time period on this, but it was pretty old.

- The Mona Lisa. Taking a picture of the Mona Lisa is a bit futile because there are so many other photographic reproductions of her out there, but now I have one of my own (and, through the magic of the Internet, so do you).

- Pyramide du Louvre. This recent addition covers the main entrance to the Musée and provides natural lighting to the main underground hallway of the complex. Admittance was free on the day we went (the workers were on strike), and there was at least a 45 minute wait to get into the main entrance. We entered through one of the lesser-known side entrances and breezed right in.

- Huge room of French sculptures. The photo does not do this room justice. It was *huge* and bright and airy and awe-inspiring and again, just huge.

- Detail of a stained glass window. They just don’t make stained glass like this anymore.