Louvre

Of course, when in Paris, one has to go to the Louvre. Unfortunately, when you're on a time crunch, there's only so much you get to see. My class ran from 2-5 p.m., but we stayed until 6; however, the Louvre starts shutting down at 5:30 and likes to usher everyone out as fast as they possibly can. It felt like we were running from room to room, but we definitely got some of the "must-see" pieces in. Sadly, I think we made it through about a quarter of the entire museum- it's huge! You'd have to spend your entire day in there, for multiple days, until you're able to say that you've seen everything.

The Louvre was built as a fortress in the twelfth century by King Philip Augustus of France. It served as a fortress and a home for royals until 1682, when Louis XIV decided to move the royal home to Versailles. The original Louvre Palace surrounds an open courtyard, but not where the pyramids stand today. The pyramids were built, despite the controversy surrounding them. Architect I.M. Pei designed the glass pyramids at the request of President Mitterand in 1984.


Among the select choices we got to see were: the original tower foundations from the Louvre (when it was still a fortress), statues from the Room of the Caryatids, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Iranian crystal belonging to King Louis XV, crown jewels from the seventeenth century, the Gallery of Apollo, Napoleon III's apartments (the man was quite a diva with his chandeliers), the Louvre indoor courtyard, the statue of Aphrodite, "Liberty Leading the People", and of course, the Mona Lisa.