Palaces of Paris

My favorite day of Paris, was possibly the last. That morning we visited the Louvre. Of course we headed straight to the Italian paintings for all to crowd around the Mona Lisa. In the same room though, is one of my favorite paintings, The Marriage at Cana. Then we took in the French paintings. This hall houses among others, The Coronation of Napoleon and Liberty Leading the People. After paintings, a few of us went into the Apollo Gallery and saw France's crown jewels. After that, we went to the sculpture galleries, located on the floor below. Highlights of sculptures included the Nike of Samothrace, Venus, and Athena. We grabbed a bit to eat, after spending sometime in the Denon wing, and made our way towards the Sully wing to see the Egyptian Antiquities. This was quite impressive. I was taking Western Civ. I  at the time and had just studied Egypt. This made the Mummies and other Egyptian artifacts all the more meaningful to me. We just had time to rush by all the other Antiquities.

We all met back at the inverted pyramid, a favorite stop for pictures. From the Louvre the strolled down the Avenue de l'Opera to the Palais Garnier. Home to the Paris Opera and the infamous Phantom. The Opera House was incredible. The Grand Foyer rivales the Hall of Mirrors, and ever better, we were the only people there. From our group the only people to tour l'Opera were Mother, Jackson, Stephen, Cici, Sarah, and me. This was because of the proximity to Cafe de la Paix, Galleries Lafayette, and some other good shopping. The Grand Staircase was magnificent. The porch offered splendid views of the city. We made a quick stop of the gift shop and then went to Zara, just across the street, a favorite store of mine. Afterwards we went to the hotel to grab our luggage and head to the train station.