A day of art and culture in Paris

Well we're back in Paris on a perfect autumn day. 

Many apologies as all our electronic gadgets seem to be giving up the ghost. A trip like this is pretty hard on them with the constant moving, plugging and unplugging. Our camera and laptop are on the blink, that coupled with dodgy wifi means uploading photos on the blog is very tricky.

Alex was desperate to go and see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre after going to Leonardo's birthplace in Tuscany (Vinci). The Louvre was originally a fortress and the existing buildings were built on top of it. In fact we saw the original ramparts and moat in the basement. It has metamorphosed from palace, stable and granary and, after Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles in 1678, squatter's home. In 1793, after the revolution it opened as a museum of royal treasures. It houses a stunning selection of art from the Middle Ages to 1848 as well as one of the biggest collections of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Islamic treasures in the world ( artefacts plundered by many rulers... Notably Napoleon)

The Louvre was amazing. We fought off the crowds to see the Mona Lisa and Alex was thrilled. When the painting was stolen by a glazier in 1911 thousands queued to stare at the bare wall as a massive manhunt got underway. Two years later he tried to sell the painting in Florence. He claimed to have kidnapped the painting to avenge the wagonloads of treasure hauled back from Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte. My favourite was a brush made of peacock feathers in the Islamic collection and large Roman mosaic floors. It really exceeded expectations, the collection was amazing and the crowds of muppets were mainly concentrated in 2 or 3 main areas. Many of the galleries were virtually empty. It represented excellent value for money at 24 euros for all of us.

After fortification with crepes and ice- creams in the lovely Jardin du Palais Royal we headed for a modern art fix to the Pompidou centre. It was disappointing as most of the centre's main collection was closed for re-hanging, however they still charged the same entry fee (26 euros for a family). The building is pretty cool with lots of escalators and colour coded pipes on the outside designed to make people think more how a building actually works. It was just a bit grubby and run down and could do with a good clean. The kids interactive gallery was terrific with cool installations involving plasticine and magnets. There was also a Roy Lichenstein exhibition which was fantastic, as long as you went in through the out door (to quote Prince) ... Go figure!... Alex and Charlie had lots of fun with the special effects on the camera.

Early start to avoid the muppets 

Mona Lisa

Very happy