Paris - Day Two

Parisian weather was the same our second day in Paris as it was the first day. Unfortunately, the weather would deliver more of the same for the rest of our stay there. Not a big deal, because we would spend our time today inside of the Louvre, the world's most famous museum. Unlike yesterday, the Louvre was actually open. In the video below you can see the old palace of the Louvre building with the new glass pyramid that you descend into to enter.

Tickets in hand, we first set upon the Decorative Arts wing of the museum. This wing has furniture, armor, weapons, jewelery, and tapestries on display. The museum use to be a palace for the French nobility, and this section also has an entire part that is decorated and furnished as it was in the days of Napoleon. The extreme opulence of this place was incredible. Everything was gilded in gold. I also really liked the medieval part of the museum. Here I am "trying on" a thousand year old crown.

After viewing many other really cool pieces of decorative art, we then set out for the Italian masterpieces wing. I'd guess this wing alone holds billions of dollars worth of art, including the world's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.



While Em and I enjoyed seeing in person all of these unbelievable paintings, we eventually found their religious preoccupation tiresome. 1 out of every 2 paintings depicted little baby Jesus. It reminded me of this scene from Talledega nights. Yes - I view the best works of art in the world and find myself thinking of a Will Ferrell movie.

But, there is one painter that Em liked in particular - the "art within art" scenes of Giovanni Pannini.

After the Louvre, we headed back to Notre Dame to try to get into the towers that we missed yesterday. We arrived to find that the line was ridiculously long and gave up without trying. Zero for two on the towers - we would try back tomorrow. Third time is a charm right?

We then headed out for some lunch. Craving a taste of home, I got a cheeseburger that was surprisingly good. Em had typical French fare - a cheese sandwich with an egg. We then headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit before our night plans.

Recharged, we hit the streets of Paris and grabbed a light dinner. We ended up getting a cheese fondue, which neither of us cared for, and of course a bottle of wine. After that, we had tickets to see "Le Crazy Horse", a famous cabaret show. When you buy tickets you also get a bottle of Champagne to enjoy while you watch. Here we are imbibing prior to the show kicking off. We didn't know what to expect from this show, but both Em and I were thoroughly impressed. The show had really high production values and was very entertaining. One notable bit is that all of the girls in the show, in addition to being gorgeous, are "statistically identical" in all of their measurements. They do this so that when they stand in a row during one of their dances, all of their parts "line up".

After the show, on the walk back home Em grabbed a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert. While delicious, I refused to get a "really thin pancake" (last Ricky Bobby video of the blog, I promise):