A trip to Western Europe: Paris, part3

Soon after we finished our breakfast, we were ready for a new day. The first stop was the Louvre Museum. It was a very bright and sunny day. This was by far the largest museum in Europe if not in the world. It housed the 2 most famous work of arts, the Mona Lisa, and the Venus of Milo.

We were extremely excited. By the time we got to the museum around the opening time of 9:00, the line had formed as long as a mile to get to the ticket office. The entrance was worse. There must have been at least a couple of thousands waiting to get inside. Lucky for us, as a tour, we did not have to wait. We had access to a special entrance for tourist groups of more than 25 people.

The museum was gigantic, and spacious with hundreds of rooms, housing more than 35 thousands artifacts spread out over 3 wings. The collection was diverse, ranging from the antiquity up to the mid or late 19th century.

A major part of the collection consists of European paintings and sculptures. Other rooms contain Roman, Egyptian, Greek and Oriental arts. There is also a section with objects such as clocks, furniture, china and tapestries are displayed.

There are countless of famous paintings and statues that dated back for centuries. Some of the most famous works of art in the museum are the Venus of Milo, the Nike of Samothrake, the Dying Slave by Michelangelo and of course Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

After a while, we got totally lost in this amazement. And the crowd kept pushing us forward slowly but steadily.

I wanted to see the most recent addition piece of modern art, the Louvre Pyramid, constructed by glass, which functions as the museum's main entrance. It has been the topic of many controversial debates since it first open in 1989.

In my point of view, it was completely lost in this historical museum. It is more like an eye sore, a foreign object. The problem is, you can not ignore it. It's situated in the main entrance foyer. Once, you walk in, the Glass Pyramid is right there to show its presence whether you like it or not .

We soon left the museum and headed back to the city, and to our next destination.

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Château de Versailles: the Sun King's Palace - Louis XIV



At one time, this was a small brick and stone lodge of king Louis XIII. Until king Louis XIV took an earnest interest in Versailles, he turned it into the royal palace that still stands today. It is by far, the most beautiful, and extravaganza masterpiece in the world. It brought back the memory of the movie "The man in the iron mask". Did king Louis XIV have a twin brother, Philippe? We never knew if the story had been true or not, but it would not stop us from wondering.

There is a section to showcase the bedroom and dinning room of king Louis XIV, the Sun King. Next to it is his wife's bedroom, Marie-Therese of Austria and their children's room. Even though history indicated that she was seldom there if not at all. There was no community of tastes between he and his wife, and the chief influence at court was to be found not in the queen but in the succession of avowed mistresses.

The cost of this palace had to be an enormous burden to the people there at the time. As history indicated, during many years of his kingship, he launched a few disastrous wars with Spain and Netherlands. Eventually, the war brought him some valuable frontier towns.

When he was older, his decision to get drawn into another war with Spain lead to the terrible period of decline to his kingdom, but he remains the model of a great king in all that concerns the externals of kingship.