Our Third day in Paris was both a sad and happy one for me. We were scheduled to go to the Louvre, the mother of all museums, and I couldn’t have been more excited for the experience. Unfortunately fate was not smiling on me that day and I found myself throwing up the entire morning of our expedition. Determined to see the Louvre I went along anyway, in hindsight probably not the best choice I could have made. I was barely in the museum a few moments when I began to feel sick again. But since I am nothing if not determined I went on into the museum anyway. What I found to be most impressive about the Louvre was that even though I was barely functioning I found myself surrounded by an unbelievable array of art. As we wandered through the countless rooms and exhibits I discovered that I was focusing on the art surrounding me and not the terrible way I felt. The most surreal part of being in the Louvre for me was when I turned a corner and found myself a mere ten feet from the Venus De Milo. It is an amazing feeling to accidentally find something so iconic to art in the western world. One can not come within 30 yards of the Mona Lisa without being told as much by signs with arrows pointing her way and swarms of tourists armed with cameras, but no such pomp existed for the Venus de Milo; we simply found ourselves face to face with her (well face to hip as the case may be). We must have arrived at just the right time since there were very few tourists in the area and were able to really get a look at her. I must have felt something like the peasant that first found her in some forgotten temple in Milos, taken back by the beauty of this chance discovery. I have always thought the statue was beautiful and it was on my mental list of things that I wanted to see while at the Louvre, but to just stumble upon her when simply looking for the bathroom was a moment to be remembered.
I often fear that I am strange, and after careful consideration I have decided that I really don’t care. I say this only because the exhibit that I was most looking forward to seeing while in the Louvre was their impressive collection of Egyptian art and artifacts. I had to laugh to myself as I attempted to navigate myself through rooms of countless European paintings (while in Europe no less) to go and look at bits of plates and sarcophagi of a long dead empire from thousands of miles away. What can I say, like many children of my generation I was always blown away by anything Egypt. My favorite episodes of Reading Rainbow or PBS specials were always on mummies or pyramids (I just dated myself didn’t I?) This trip to the Louvre was the first chance that I have ever had to be around a large collection of Egyptian art, other than small traveling exhibits that I have been to at other museums in the States, and I have to say that it was one of the more impressive of my museum-life experiences. I am glad now, looking back, that I went ahead and at least attempted to see what I could see while at the Louvre and just work through my health problems that day. Even though I was only able to stay in the museum for a few short hours, I was able to see pieces of art and history that I may never have the chance to see again. This is one of the most amazing things about being in a city that has the kind of history that Paris has. It allows visitors to discover something new and beautiful around every corner, sometimes even by accident.
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