Pear-ee

PARIS

This was the view of from our hotel room, the Garnier Opera and Eifel tower in the distance.

We walked into the infamous Notre Dame interrupting a catholic mass. Tourists were roped off into the perimeters. It was cool to see a cathedral in use though.

There were lots of neat cafes, shops, markets, everywhere. They seem to have mastered urban living.

This is inside the cool and controversial inside-out building, the pompidou center. It is designed with all internal structures, pipes, ducts, etc. as the external facade of the building. It definitely stands out amongst the otherwise well coordinated parisian style.

Enter the large and spacious building. This is the Galleries Lafayette, one of Paris', the worlds', most famous malls. Every floor was dedicated to a different accessory. An entire floor of a mall dedicated to purses. Another to shoes. Another to make-up.

One of our favorite things we did was a riverboat tour down the Seine River. This river splits the city right through the middle, so it turned out to be a great highlight tour.

Eifel tower. Lots of rivets.

The Louvre. A stunning and overwhelming collection. I would like to go back--with a humanities or art history expert.

My favorites of the Louvre were probably the sculptures. This one above was in my top 3. Its Hercules. I like how macho this sculpture makes fatherhood. He's not slaying some dragon, but holding his child. And what a beard! Not a bad image of a dad, especially considering how far he has come being an illegitimate child himself.

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss. The Greek word psyche literally means "spirit, breath, life or animating force." No psyche without love. That's deep.

Mercury (in Greek, Hermes), in his left hand is the caduceus, a wand carried by ancient Greek heralds as a symbol of immunity during war, a form of two snakes intertwined about an olive branch that is capped by wings. It was interesting to learn that the US Army medical corps incorrectly uses this as a symbol of medicine. Some have argued that the symbol was used by the military medical corps because it is the sign of the merchant, or noncombatant--I like that. But the actually more ancient, authentic, and historically accurate sign of medicine is the Rod of Asclepius, which is a single serpent wrapped around a staff, no wings. Not to be confused with Nehustan (which is what I thought was the symbol of medicine), which is the staff and serpent raised by Moses: "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."

This was in the African section. It was one of Wynn's favorite. Over 200 years old I believe.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, aka Nike of Samothrace. This was my favorite piece. It is the epitome of majesty and a triumphant spirit. The texture and movement is amazing. Below is a pic of 1939 when they removed it from the Louvre in fear of the encroaching Nazi army.

If you look closely you can see a reflection on the glass cover of five or six people shooting pics of the Mona Lisa. It is a little underwhelming see this painting, although I am a huge fan of Leonardo. You have to wrestle your way to the front of a hostile crowd to get a good view. Reminded me of a 311 rock concert I went to my freshmen year of college.

Arc de Triomphe. A monument to all the French Military victories. Americans like to joke that the French have had no victories, but they must have never heard of Napoleon. Below is a view from the top (as well as the first panoramic photo above).