Up fairly early for a vacation Dy (much later than a normal workday), we head to the Louvre for our big day there. I had gotten what I hoped were the correct tickets for the David exhibit, since we had our Museum pass and Catherine has her educator’s pass which gives her free entry to many museums. I had done this online and really hoped I had done it correctly. The courtyard by the pyramid was packed with people and groups, as it was a school day. It also turned out that there had been a big meeting of all the staff about security, which meant that the opening was delayed. We lucked into finding a staffer who was setting out the sign for the 11:00am reservations, so we tagged along with her and were third in line. Because the opening was delayed, she said we would be delayed about half an hour. It was cold out, about 42 degrees, but we were prepared. While waiting in line we met a nice young couple from Seville, Spain, and a couple from Arizona, who ended up also speaking Spanish with the folks from Spain. There was an American couple behind us but they did not join the conversation and mostly seemed very grumpy. Time went on, many people came to look at the sign, and seeing their faces as they realized that the this was the front of the extremely long line (it went the length of the Pyramid and curved around the back) became quite the show. Then it was 11:30, and nothing happened with our line, but we saw another line on the other side of the pyramid moving. Catherine went over and learned that it was the 10:30 line, delayed because of the late opening, and we would be next. Then a staffer came over and told us to follow him to enter and we all ran after him, as a few after folks tried to cut in line but Catherine glared at them and they moved back. Then we moved into the back-and-forth weave of the entry line (like Disneyland) as we watched the 10:30 group go ahead of us. Then another group started to go in, and Catherine asked what time their reservation was and a few people showed her the papers with 11:30, and she complained to the the young staffer holding our line. After about 15 minutes more of that line going by us, folks were getting restive, and Catherine complained again to the young staffer that we had 11:00am reservations, but he said he was told to do this. Finally we saw the original staffer who brought us over, and another who had a radio and was clearly senior, and Catherine went over and complained to them. The staffer who brought us over then came and opened the rope holding our group back and people cheered for Catherine! The woman from Arizona said “she is amazing!” And of course I agreed. And we all moved forward toward security and the entrance.
Once inside, we needed to orient ourselves and get to the David exhibit, as it was now 12:30 and we were late for our time, though I figured they would give s a break given the late opening. Went went to the Sully wing where the David exhibit was and passed right through with our tickets. I was so happy I had done the ticketing correctly! The exhibit itself was wonderful, showing his early work as he created a new style of mythological and Greek and Roman historical painting (of the style appreciated by the Academie), then his Revolutionary period (he became active in politics and was one of the hundreds of deputies who voted to execute the king), and made a number of very patriotic paintings. His famous painting “The Death of Marat” was on display, from the period of the Terror when he was jailed for a while, as many of his fellow original revolutionaries were held to account and often executed. He eventually was released and became a fan of Napoleon, creating the famous work of a heroic Napoleon on a white horse crossing the Alps in winter; in fact he crossed on a mule, hardier than a horse, and it was pretty miserable. He also painted the enormous work of the crowning of Napoleon as Emperor, when he took the crown from the Pope, crowned himself, and then took the crown for his wife Josephine who became Empress (this painting was in its original home upstairs, too large to move). David then moved into a period of portraits of leading intellectuals and family. Afterwards we went up to the gallery where the crowning of Napoleon was displayed, spending some time just observing and admiring the incredible detail in this huge work which was about 40’ by30’, and with an enormous mirror opposite the painting which is how it was displayed when Napoleon first saw it. Many people stopped by, tried to take a photo of the whole enormous painting, and when that was not possible, juts snapped what they could get and moved on. For the last part of our day, went spent time in the Italian painting gallery, where throngs of tourists walked by the four Leonardo da Vinci paintings to go to the gallery where the Mona Lisa is now displayed. It was amazing to see the huge crowd there, cell phones aloft, trying to take selfies over the heads of other tourists. How sad that they missed the da Vincis, the Raphaels, the Titians, and so much more. We stayed until the Louvre closed.
Afterwards, we went out to the Tuileries, where a large Christmas market and carnival were open and busy. We got some vin chaud (hot mulled wine) and walked the length of the garden, seeing the many food and gift booths along with some carnival rides for children and adults, and some life size singing reindeer doing Christmas carols which were both funny and with quite good music. We found a booth selling tartiflette, a potato and cheese traditional dish, often with bacon or sausage added. We got a truffled one and and another with a sausage, and ate standing up at the bar with some champagne. As it was getting colder, we bought some things for lunch the next next day and headed back. We have to repack for our trip to Lyon tomorrow to consolidate into a single bag. I had more than 15,000 steps!
