Louvre - Paris, France

The second weekend of my time studying in London was spent in Paris. Being a frugal college student, my travel buddies and I booked an inexpensive overnight bus from London to Paris's City Centre which we knew would take 10 hours (but it cost $20 so we went for it). After leaving London at 10 pm, I quickly drifted off to sleep to wake up to the bus driver saying in his thick Slovakian accent, "We're on a ferry. You have one hour and then you must get back on the bus." I knew we would be crossing the English Channel somehow, but I did not realize that our bus would be driving right onto a large ferry! As I looked around in my sleepy state, I realized there were hundreds of carrier buses like mine in what looked like a giant mall parking lot and thousands of people were filing out of their buses and cars to the upper decks of the large ship. I slowly walked up to the deck of the ship and watched the lights on the waters of the English Channel at four in the morning... it was a very beautiful and unexpected component of my trip. 

With a check-in later in the afternoon at our Airbnb and an arrival with our baggage at 9 am, my friends and I decided to head straight from our overnight bus to the Louvre (partly to beat the crowds, and the other part to be able to check our luggage in at the museum while we walked around). Much to our surprise, the Louvre was free to EU students and we were able to enjoy all the artwork payment and baggage free (when living out of a backpack for a month and hauling your stuff around for day trips, a nice place to check your bags in like a museum is a major relief and huge perk).

The game plan once entering the Louvre was to head straight to the Mona Lisa to beat the rush. Even though we entered the museum within the first hour of opening, the crowds had already begun to form and we had to cue up (in a Parisian fashion... not orderly like the Brits), in order to get close enough to view her. 

There she was, turning around from facing the window to look at all of us. The wild landscape behind her and her free, unkempt hair give the viewer an intimate sense of who she is, and a familiarity with her is immediate. She is seated and it appears that she has heard someone entering the room and she is turning around to greet them expectantly. Covered by a thick wall of glass and two rows of barriers with about nine guards at the ready on each side of the barriers, it was an interesting juxtaposition to the calm and content Mona Lisa ready to greet the viewer. 

As I stood to view the painting, hundreds of people with their phones and selfie sticks were pushing their way through to the front. After viewing the painting, I couldn't help but watch all the people and the commotion occurring around this one piece. I ended up taking one picture of the Mona Lisa, and the rest of the crowd surrounding me, as inspired by the German Museum photographer, Thomas Struth (he's awesome! Look him up if you haven't seen his work!).

The commotion in these photos is exactly what it feels like to be in the room and this was only at 10 in the morning! When I was finishing up at the museum at about 2 pm in the afternoon, the crowd had about tripled in size. 

View of one of the ceilings in the Louvre! So ornately decorated and painted, probably because it used to be Napoleon's palace before the people of France took it for themselves.  

View of the Louvre from above! So many people lined up to get inside in that mass of people by the pyramid. The pyramid is where visitors enter through.  

Eugene Delacroix's La liberté guidant le peuple 

A visual symbol of the French Revolution!

The Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike) from c. the 3rd-1st centuries BC

Absolutely amazing knowing that this beautifully crafted piece was created over 2000 years ago. The fine carving, the softness and movement of the fabric created in stone is astounding and exquisite.

Gilles by Antoine Watteau from 1721. 

One of my favorite paintings! This sad figure in the white outfit is seen in many different paintings and his name is Pierrot. He is often depicted as the fool who is expected to entertain everyone, but is often shown as being very sad and contemplative. This juxtaposition of what should be a joyful character portrayed as sad is a fascinating artistic motif in many different Watteau and rococo paintings.

The Venus de Milo discovered in 1820 in Greece and created around c.100-130 BC.

I loved seeing how alive the museum became! Almost like a living organism.