La Louvre/Le Tour Eiffel
While a previous attempt to visit the Eiffel tower had been sabotaged by a malfunctioning elevator that in turn caused long lines to snake around the tower's legs and subsequently significantly gum up the works, we made it today. Congratulations if you made it through that sentence.
A little earlier on the agenda was the Louvre, another Parisian icon.
The Louvre amazed me, but not for the right reasons. Literally thousands of timeless, classic works, tirelessly recovered and painstakingly restored, hung in relative loneliness as ninety percent of museum attendees flocked to gawk at the Mona Lisa. While itself both timeless and classic, I couldn't help but be amazed at the effect popularity can have on a person's vision and perception of the world in front of them. Either seeing da Vinci's most famous work is just another must-see attraction to cross off the list, or the crowd jostling and elbowing for good viewing position was actually enthralled by its artistic qualities and the cunning half-smile of the painting's subject. Either way, it seemed that the Mona Lisa was the only painting in the room each visitor could see. Every other painter's thoughts and emotions, carefully deposited onto canvas hundreds of years ago, earned only a passing glance as a person's gaze shifted to the centerpiece of the room.
Oh well. At least this next painting probably caught a couple passerby's attention.
Snake got your nipple?
A little earlier on the agenda was the Louvre, another Parisian icon.
The Louvre amazed me, but not for the right reasons. Literally thousands of timeless, classic works, tirelessly recovered and painstakingly restored, hung in relative loneliness as ninety percent of museum attendees flocked to gawk at the Mona Lisa. While itself both timeless and classic, I couldn't help but be amazed at the effect popularity can have on a person's vision and perception of the world in front of them. Either seeing da Vinci's most famous work is just another must-see attraction to cross off the list, or the crowd jostling and elbowing for good viewing position was actually enthralled by its artistic qualities and the cunning half-smile of the painting's subject. Either way, it seemed that the Mona Lisa was the only painting in the room each visitor could see. Every other painter's thoughts and emotions, carefully deposited onto canvas hundreds of years ago, earned only a passing glance as a person's gaze shifted to the centerpiece of the room.
Oh well. At least this next painting probably caught a couple passerby's attention.
Snake got your nipple?
Thanks for reading.
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