Paris Je T'aime – A City that He Loved (Day 3)

Paris Je T'aime – A City that He Loved (Day 3)
(Journal of a Trip to Paris from Toronto between September 26, 2007 to October 5, 2007)

Day 3 – September 29, 2007 (Rainy)

We decided to spend the whole day in Musee du Louvre today.

Getting off at the Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre metro station, we were right inside the musuem on the concourse level.  The first thing that drew our attention was the inverted glass pyramid.




Admission fee to the musuem was €9 per adult.  Tickets could be obtained from the various machines located
 in the foyer.




The building of Louvre was previously a royal palace and holds some of the world's most famous works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Madonna of the Rocks, Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People and Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo.



Located in the centre of the city of Paris, between the Rive Droite of the Seine and the rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement, Louvre is the most visited and one of the oldest, largest, and most famous art galleries and museums in the world.



 

Mona Lisa that could only be looked at from afar was one of the many paintings in Louvre that drew a big crowd of people throughout the day.



The Louvre displays 35,000 works of art drawn from eight curatorial departments, displayed in over 60,600 m2 of exhibition space dedicated to the permanent collections. It therefore was impossible to appreciate all the works thoroughly in one day.

At around 5: 30 p.m., we left the museum because it closed at 6 p.m.

We walked along Rue de Louvre and Rue de Rivoli (a shopping area), and then crossed the River Seine to the left bank.





We had dinner at Le Depart Restaurant (above St. Mechel metro station).  Just love the desserts in France, they were delicious.  


My creme brulee

After dinner, we wandered around that area for a bit. The street behind Le Depart was a very lively one with restaurants of different nationalities.  Many people dined there.

Instead of taking the metro, we walked along River Seine to go back to our hotel.  We passed by Notre Dame which was beautifully illuminated with lights outside.



On our side of the river, right across Notre Dame, was the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company.  



Set in the heart of Paris on the Left Bank opposite Notre-Dame, Shakespeare and Company has grown from a bookstore into an institution. Shakespeare and Company first opened its doors in 1951. For over fifty years, the bookshop has housed numerous writers and hosted readings by published and unpublished authors. Shakespeare & Company was a meeting place for many of the literary luminaries living in Paris at the time, including James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald.