Day Eight : Museums

We got our 4 day museum passes today. These are passes that allow us to get into most of the monuments and museums quickly and easily for four consecutive days. We purchased it at the Pantheon, which is just up the street from us, early this morning.

This is a large building used to be a church, but is now a place where France’s great are entombed. The dome has been added upon over the years and actually contains 3 domes beneath the outer dome. Hanging from the centre of the dome is a pendulum which, in 1851, was used to demonstrate the rotation of the earth (and also can tell the time). In the crypt below the main level we saw Victor Hugo’s tomb as well as Alexandre Dumas.

Next we moved on the the Louvre. We had no intention of trying to see all of this in one day so we kind of paced ourselves. I won’t bore you with all of the tiny details of moving around in here (it’s better to let the gallery below show you what we saw). Suffice to say at some points in the museum it was like being in a church. Other times it felt more like being at a rock concert.

Across the Seine is the Musee d’Orsay.  Pictures can be found below.   You can get pretty close to the paintings where you can see the brush strokes and the amount of paint layered on.  It was a more enjoyable experience than the Louvre, smaller crowds and more intimate.

We returned home after that. Rested our feet for a small bit and then went over to the grocery store for a few things for the next few days.

No plans as of yet for tomorrrow.

The Pantheon from the outside.

Inside the Pantheon.

Inside the Pantheon.

Inside the Pantheon.

Smaller cutaway model of the Pantheon.

Heading towards the tombs below the Pantheon.

Having a stare off.

An empty tomb.

Marker for Victor Hugo & Alexandre Dumas’ tomb.

Victor Hugo’s tomb.

The Foucault pendulum that hangs from the centre of the dome of the Pantheon.

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

Remnants of wall sculptures in the Louvre

In the Louvre

Venus de Milo

Venus de Milo in the Louvre

Lily in the Louvre

Egyptian antiquity in the Louvre

Mike in front of Egyptian antiquity

Medieval moats in the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

Monkeys (?) in the Louvre

Lily looking at an Egyption wall

Sacophage in the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

Top of a Middle Eastern pillar

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

In the Louvre

The Dying Slave by Michelangelo

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Winged Victory of Samothrace

The Mona Lisa from afar

The Mona Lisa

Everyone taking pictures of the Mona Lisa

Lily & Mike in front of the Louvre

Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe in Musee d’Orsay

In the Musee d’Orsay

Whistler

Mike looking at a Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Lily looking at Van Gogh

Mike out on the terrance at the Musee d’Orsay

in the Musee d’Orsay

Paul Cézanne

In the Musee d’Orsay

The Gates of Hell

The Gates of Hell

Lily posing along the hall in Musee d’Orsay

Albert Bartholomé “Petite fille pleurant”

La jeune fille et la Mort by Marianne Stokes

Nuit d’été by Winslow Homer

Léon Frédéric – Les âges de l’ouvrier (The Ages of the Worker)

In the Musee d’Orsay

Front and back shot of our 4 day museum passes.

Enjoying a yogurt.