Old Favs

Sunday -we decide to make another attempt on the Louvre as it's the first Sunday of the month and FREE. Out the door at 8.30 and onto the metro at Pont Marie to Rivoli-Louvre where we know there is a connection straight through to the underground Louvre Carrousel entry so we won't have to stand around in the cold waiting to get in. After wandering up and down various Sorties we give up and head for the Rue de Rivoli exit and across the road to the Pyramides entrance - long queue and the wind is blowing so we walk up Rue de Rivoli to the Carrousel entrance from the street. The queue is backed up halfway to the escalators but at least it's warm.
9 o'clock on the dot and everyone begins shuffling forward hurried along by a group of attendants who separate the bagged from the unbagged who have to put their bags through the machine - very efficient and before we know it we are through and into the central area under the glass pyramid.
Having already obtained a copy of the layout and planned our attack we headed straight for the Mona Lisa (well you have to at least have tried to see her while you are there). All the new marble everywhere is a little disconcerting but as we turn a corner and look up the stairs we see the Winged Victory of Samothrace at the top and realise that some things have not changed. However, we are on a mission and pass by with hardly a glance and head down the long familiar corridor to the room where the prize is located. The crowd is not too bad and we see that they have added two extra barriers since we were here last as well as raising the picture up the wall somewhat (I guess so that people can see it over everyone else's head).
A couple of quick pics and it's back the way we came to spend some time with other paintings that we like (seems strange to be going against the crowd but confirms that we made the right choice and are able to enjoy ourselves while others are rushing to get to Mona).
Back to Winged Victory which is a 3rd century BC marble statue of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory) - it has stood the test of time well and still looks great. After a stop in the Apollo gallery to marvel at the early glassware and exquisite enamelled snuff boxes we take a shortcut through the Greeks and Etruscans to get to the French Objects d'Art in the opposite wing. This is not as simple as it sounds even with a plan and maps in every other room because sometimes a corridor runs off from a room that is parallel to but not actually accessible from the room that one is in. Nevertheless after a number of false starts and dead ends we finally make it to the other side. This wing, known as the Richelieu wing, was opened on November 18, 1993 marking the two hundredth anniversary of the museum's creation. It parallels the Rue de Rivoli and ultimately becomes the building for the Musee des Arts Decoratifs and we have not been here before.
Entering from the end farthest away from the Tullieries we find that everything is organised sequentially from C17 to The July Monarchy (1830-1848 - remember Delacroix's Liberty...) and it is an interesting part of the Louvre that we have not had the opportunity to explore before. We end up in the Napoleon III apartments which show the opulence that still remained part of the leadership of the time and was probably something to do the Louis-Phillipe's overthrow.
As it is 11.30 we decide to break for a coffee before the top floor and the Dutch/Flemish painters. We manage to capture a table on the mezzanine floor and decide to eat our sandwich with the "cafe express" while watching the crowds pouring through the pyramides area - Grand Central Station at peak hour cannot compare. The stairs and escalators are completely filled with people arriving but there are some making their way out (probably to rejoin their tout bus).
The Dutch and Flemish painters are not a school we are particularly interested in especially without Rembrandt and Vermeer's Lacemaker is away in Japan which is a pity. Next it's the French paintings which we find more interesting (but Ingres' Turkish Bath is also missing and there is no Liberty...).
By now we are starting to get a little footsore but there is one more "must see" so we head back down to the ground floor and across to the opposite side via Pharaonic, Egypt sculptures to find Aphrodite buried in a sea of people. Actually we are quite lucky because this area is soon to be closed down for renovation and when we get to the statue we see why - it is very dirty and marked from people touching it. I make a short movie to capture the noise and movement of the crowd (even though its too big to post here) and we manage to squeeze into a space large enough to get a photo. Despite the crowd it is good to go out on a high and we head for home to put our feet up and enjoy a well earned cup of coffee. This time we actually do find our way to the metro directly via the Carrousel - it actually comes out on the platform for another line and we need to use a connecting passage to get to our line 7.