Last Day in Paris

inside the Louvre



the famous entrance to the Louvre



a very small part of the gardens of versailles



The Palace of Versailles


July 26th
The morning began like any other lazy morning, but we certainly had lofty ambitions for the day. Once we found ourselves at the subway station we bought tickets to the Palace of Versailles just outside the city as that was the morning excursion we had decided on. Right after this we were planning to spend the rest of the sightseeing hours at the Louvre.
The palace of Versailles was constructed by King Louis XIV of France (who began his rule at the age of five) in order to show off his wealth to all other nations. With this goal in mind, King Louis constructed a palace with only the largest, most expensive, most intricate, and most grandiose items. We knew that the museum would be closed today, but the gardens were still open which are a sight to see on their own. The palace of Versailles is the largest historic property in the European Union ( from my understanding). When we arrived, we were greeted by first a statue of Louis and then his very large palace. The palace contains famous sights such as Marie Antoinette’s quarters and the hall of mirrors. Since we could not go inside, we quickly made our way to the back where the gardens were. Our eyes were greeted by splendid greenery and blossoms on every side. The gardens were decorated with many fountains, sculptures, and ponds. One of the ponds was quite similar to the one seen at the foot of the Washington Monument. In the gardens we saw labyrinths cut into the grass, rows of trees, dozens of rows heading in other directions, and of course tons of flowers.
After Versailles, we grabbed lunch and ate it while catching the subway to the Louvre. I had heard stories of the Louvre. Many friends have gotten lost inside and some statistic ran through my head about “if you stop at every piece of art for 5 seconds, you will spend three days in the Louvre…” And when you see the building itself, it suddenly all makes sense. The Louvre is huge! Just walking around the building from the outside would probably take an hour. We walked in through the clear pyramid and put our art critic personas on. Once again we had to prioritize the works we wanted to see. I chose the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo while Nate chose the medieval portion. We began our sprint through the artworks of the Louvre. We quickly learned that if other people were gathered around something, it was probably important. By this method we discovered five of Da Vinci’s works, the bow of the Samothrace, the sphinx, the Mona Lisa, and Venus. We found other gems such as the big face statue from Moai and the medieval castle and dungeon that lie beneath the Louvre. I found Rennoir and Etruscan pottery, Napoleon’s personal affects and Egyptian mirrors. Everything I learned in school came to life. I guess that’s what museums are supposed to do. However, when an employee announced the closing of the museum, Nate and I were all too happy to go find a place to finally sit down and have dinner. For our last night in Europe, we chose to dine in a New York themed restaurant. After that we headed to the hotel to finish up some things before coming back home.
Mo