Since D was doing such a great job of taking care of travel, my job was to plan activities. Although we had been to Paris before, we are firm believers that there is so much to do in this wonderful city that there wouldn't be a problem of finding new adventures.
I was thrilled to discover that the Louvre is open late on Friday nights, and since the time is more restrictive, the price is reflective of that and is about half of the normal entrance fee. Once we dropped off our bags at the hotel and walked to the Louvre, we had about 1-2 hours to walk around and enjoy the sites. I had a short list of pieces that I wanted to see (and that I thought D would too) so we started with those. Winged Victory, pictured here, is just a beautiful welcome to the museum. I have great memories of being awed by it when I first saw it and wanted D to have that same experience.
[The statues proper name is The Winged Victory of Samothrace or Nike of Samothrace and was carved in marble in the 3rd century to represent the Greek goddess Nike (Victory). The statue is rendered in white Parian marble. The figure originally formed part of the Samothrace temple complex. It stood on a pedestal of gray marble representing the prow of a ship, and symbolized the goddess as she descends from the skies to the triumphant fleet.]
Other highlights included the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, winged Babylonian Bull sculptures, the Coronation of Napoleon and Liberty Following the People paintings. Good stuff. The Louvre has so much it is good to have parameters to prevent death by museum.
Off to bed we went so that bright and early the next morning we could head to the Eiffel Tower and make the trek up it. We got there at 9:30am, right after it opened, and were happy to see that the lines weren't bad yet. We decided to climb as high as we could not only so that we could avoid crowds, but we felt we could appreciate it more if we worked for it.
The views are fantastic and we took our time and lots of pictures on the way up. We were blessed with a sunny day, and liked the climb. Everyone is required to take the elevator up the last third of the way, and we were able to purchase the tickets for it on the first and second floors, which saved us waiting in line on the ground (and money). We decided to take the stairs on the way down as well since by the time we were done with the climb and views it was close to lunch, and the crowds were out. Thankfully, the stairs were still empty.
Next we moved on to the Rodin Museum. Since D had appreciated The Thinker in the sculpture gardens at Stanford University, it was a real pleasure to enjoy the original. Thanks to my sister and the education she gave me on Rodin, I have come to really like his work. I remember visiting this museum with Susie and Chris a long time ago and Susie educating us on the person and work of Rodin and his students. I love the size and variety of work, both in medium as well as subject. I would have loved to have purchased a replica, but even the small ones were way too expensive.
I fell in love with this piece by Camille Claudel, one of Rodin's students. It is entitled, "The Waltz" which makes sense. There aren't that many pieces of her work here, but from what I have seen, I really like her work (I may even prefer it to Rodin's work). There is something really elegant and romantic about them that appeals to me. Also, she used some beautiful stone to augment the pieces, jade and onyx and the like, that gave them a flare and uniqueness that is hard to put into words.
We finished up with a late Valentine's Day dinner that started with Champagne, of course, and had its fair share of fois gras (fat geese liver, really, literally that is what it means) because this IS France. I had a lovely veal and D had an enjoyable duck. Overall, a wonderfully memorable weekend in which D gets huge husband credit forever for planning and executing. I feel like a pampered wife and a special valentine.
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