Saturday, 16 March, 2013
Bonjour!
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| Pottery from ca. 6,000 B.C. |
Wow!! What an amazing
day!! This of course means we took our
Mesopotamian dictionary to the Louvre and had quite a voyage of discovery! But to start at the beginning…Up about 6 a.m.
to a brisk, overcast and windy day. No
rain yet, however, so that’s good; as I wrote yesterday, we had originally had
three solid rainy days forecast, so whatever we get will be an
improvement! (Except for snow, of
course!) Out about 8 a.m. and over to
the Seine to catch the 72 bus, which would take us directly to the Louvre. Got off at the Quai Mitterand, and walked
through the Louvre courtyard and in by the Carousel. Had the place to ourselves, which was nice,
while we had hot chocolate and pain au
chocolat for me, and coffee and a croissant for Robert. Then we headed downstairs and headed to the
back Carousel entrance to the Louvre; got there about 10 minutes to 9. Right on time, the doors were opened and we
whisked inside. It is SO nice not having
to worry about tickets, as our Les Amis
du Louvre (Friends of the Louvre) cards were still valid from last
year!
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| Hammurabi kneeling in prayer |
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| Sargon II |
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| Gudea, King of Lagash |
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| Ebih-Il, from Mari |
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| Ebih-Il, from Mari |
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| Pictographic tablet - On the road to writing |
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| Standard weight |
Picked up a map, and then Robert led the way to the Near
Eastern collection. To be honest, there
are still several rooms that are closed off – in a plan to make sure that the
artifacts stored in the basement weren’t flooded out this spring, several rooms
have been cordoned off and used as storage and renovation areas. But most of the collection is now in situ and everything looks really
incredible! We must have had 40+
specific artifacts to find – and, just as in the British Museum, it looked so
hopeless at the beginning, as we had rooms and rooms to look through! But having a trained observer by your side
does tend to make things easier, as we identified items and read all sorts of
interesting details. We spent over 4
hours this morning at the Louvre, and really didn’t make it out of the Near
East! We only have 4 or 5 things left to
find, and one of the men at the information desk indicated that at least one of
the pieces is now off-exhibit. So…we
have made an incredible dent in our Near East artifact identification project –
and there are still more museums to visit.
There are at least two more in New York City, and one museum in Brooklyn
that will need to be visited. But all in
all, our great “Museum Tour” has worked out very well, and to be honest, we’re
just about (but not completely) museumed-out!
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| Glazed brick panel - Palace of Darius, King of the Persian Empire |
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| From Palace of Darius |
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| Glazed brick panel from Palace of Darius |
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| Rue Saint Dominique |
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| Salad Parisienne |
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| Grilled ham and cheese, Paris style |
Out about 1:30 p.m. and headed to the Truffe Jolies, last night’s restaurant, where we were hoping to get
lunch. Unfortunately, our bus, 62,
terminated earlier than expected, letting us (and everybody else!) off on the
right street – Saint Dominique – but WAY far away from the shop! It wasn’t too cold as we walked past Les Invalides (Napoleon’s final resting
place) and made out way to Rue Malar. Finally
got there, about 2 p.m. but the small shop was filled to overflowing with
lunchers; definitely no room for us! So,
went right next door to Café Malar
and had a fabulous lunch! Robert ordered
a toasted open-faced bread, ham and cheese sandwich that came with green
salad. I ordered their Parisian Salad –
it was great! A nice bowl of lettuce,
green beans, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, ham, cheese, corn and boiled potatoes,
all with a great mustard vinaigrette, and washed down with a couple of glasses
of Bordeaux. I was very happy to be able
to find such a great salad! This is
definitely one place we can return to! (and it will be easy to find as it’s next to
the truffle place!)
From here in the 7th, we took two buses back to
the hotel. Have to admit that we did
slip into the Patisserie across the street from the hotel and picked up a Tart Citron to go; not the best I’ve
ever had, but a nice way to end the afternoon!
Upstairs to our little room, and we both took great naps – all that
artifact searching obviously wears one out!
It’s now about 6:30 p.m. and it’s raining, as forecast. Oh well!
Not sure where we head from here; just have to see!
More later!
m
xxx
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