We got to the Louvre about 30 minutes before it opened and entered straight from the Subway into the mall without having to walk outside. We had coffee and pastry then joined the line underneath the pyramid. It wasn't a long wait. I followed the Rick Steves audio tour that I'd downloaded and the very first think I saw was the Venus d'Milo. Talk about a great start. We were ahead of the pack so could take our time and get as close as we wanted. Unfortunately it didn't last but for the most part, with patience I was able to get as close to the art as I wanted. I saw five, count 'em five, Da Vinci's not counting the Mona Lisa. Winged Victory was awesome placed at the top of a grand staircase. The audio tour took about 2 hours and it only included the Denon wing. We checked out the Egyptian collection in the Sully wing next. We were too tired to tackle the Richelieu wing. Next time.
From there we went to a cafe and had lunch that the R.S. book suggested. It was a great place to sit and watch the street scene.
We then took the metro to St. Chappelle. It was amazing. The play of light through the stained glass was beautiful. Hard to believe the place was built in only 5 years back in the mid 1200's (Notre Dame took 200 years). King Louis IX built it to house the Crown of Thorns which he brought back from Constantinople during the French Crusades. The relic is no longer there. It now resides in the treasury at Notre Dame and only on display the first Friday of the month and during Easter. There are no large images of Christ here. It's all about the crown.
The pics at the top are Da Vinci's St. Anne, The Virgin and Child. Notice how St. Anne resembles Mona Lisa. The altar of St. Chappelle the platform at the top is where the Crown of Thorns resided. And, of course, Venus de Milo but maybe from a different angle than normally photographed.
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