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

Mussels, fairy floss and love locks!

If you thought romance was passé in Paris, all you have to do is look at Paris bridges to see it is being displayed in full force.

The Paris “love locks” are back.

The love padlocks have been a phenomenon in cities around the world.

For those of you who haven’t heard of them, here's the story. A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love.

Some say the only way to break the seal of love brought on by this love lock act is to find the key and unlock the padlock. Of course, that is nearly impossible, since the keys lie at the bottom of the river. This reality induces many brokenhearted individuals to return with bolt cutters to try to chop off the padlocks in the dead of the night. 

Alex and Charlie decided they wanted to put their padlock on the bridge too. They wrote 'Alex, Charlie and Sam, Paris 2013' on their lock and tossed the key in the Seine (and kept a spare for their journals).

The car park we deposited the car at did free bike hire so Rog hired a bike and did some touring by the Seine giving 'croggies' to the kids. We went to the Jardin des Tuileries near the Louvre and went on the fair ground. The views from the air chairs was fantastic. (Cheaper than DLP and no queues or mice in sight!) 

Ended the day with steaming pots of moules frites (again!!).

We love Paris!!

A & C with their padlock

Charlie attaches it to bridge

The Louvre from the Jardin du Carousel

Louvre again 

Going up on the air chairs

The Louvre from the air chairs

Log flume- be warned you may get wet!

Fairy floss of course 

Musee d'Orsay and some tower

Moules frites (again!!!!!)

Paris by Night

Paris is a beautiful city and becomes even better after dark!

We took a picnic and picniced in the Jardin des Tuileriers, next to the Louvre. It was a perfect evening, mid 20's and a full moon. There was a great playground which was free (unlike the playground in Luxembourg gardens which you had to pay for: 2.50 euros for kids, including Sam and 1.50 euros for adults)

The Louvre is an amazing building, it's enormous. As well as it's stunning selection of art from the middle ages to 1848 it also houses one of the biggest collections of Egyptian treasures in the world. The modern glass pyramid in the main entrance is exactly ten times smaller than the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

We watched the sun set over the Seine then walked back along the river watching the lights on the river and in the city.

Musee de Louvre

Paris by night

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