Last Day in Paris

The city of Paris is an incredible place. There are a million things to do, but since we are here to explore all of Europe, it was time to move on. We decided on our cool off day that we would avoid anything that had to deal with the timeshare and just get up early and walk to the smaller train station. By now, four miles seems like nothing! Another cool story that I forgot to tell all of you was that our first day in Paris, an old friend of mine, Will Cox, messaged me on Facebook telling me that he is now living in Paris and would love to catch up!! It was hilarious to think how small this world is! But through the week, every time we had planned on getting together, something would go wrong which would lead to us taking a relax day. So Saturday was our last chance to catch up, but also our last chance to see the Louvre. Will was awesome and allowed us to drop off our backpacks at his place and then go see the Louvre without having to carry around huge bags. It was a giant relief. We said we would come back before having to leave and catch up. Will told us a few tricks to the Louvre that a regular tourist wouldn't know like secret entries and ways to avoid lines. We took the Metro right under the Louvre and walked right in, instead of having to wait in line at the glass pyramid. The first thing we had to see was obviously the Mona Lisa. There are loads of pieces of art throughout the Louvre, but there are signs that all lead you to this painting. The artwork is incredible, but everyone comes to see her. The Louvre is the largest museum in the world. It is impossible to see everything in one day. The amount of artifacts is mind-boggling. The amount of people visiting the Louvre each day is mind-boggling. You are never alone no matter where you are in there, but the closer you get to the Mona Lisa, the more crowded it becomes. Luckily I was taller than basically everyone or else I wouldn't have been able to see the tiny painting. 

It does not make sense how many people just stare at her for minutes on end. At the same time, the wall directly opposite of her holds the biggest painting I have ever seen. It must be 40 feet tall and 60 feet wide. The attention of the room is all on Mona Lisa and none to this monster that has the most incredible detail. I don't get it...

There are too many artifacts to look at, but we saw a ton. We saw Venus de Milo which was very cool! I have a draw to sculptures more than paintings for some reason. 

There are too many pieces to explain, but the only downside to the Louvre is that because there is so much, many of the pieces blend in with one another. All of them by themselves would be unreal, but because you can't look ten feet without seeing something just as amazing, it takes away from the beauty of each individual piece. I really did appreciate seeing all of the artifacts. The Louvre is something that every person should get to experience in their life. The history behind it is deep and you will not find a more interesting place to the art-fiend. 

We made our way back to Will's place and spent two hours just catching up. It was fun to hear his story on how he loved this life and decided to miss his plane back home on purpose and live here. He has three months left until he had to come back, but he isn't counting down the days. He is enjoying it and it was great to see him! It was getting close to the time we had to leave so we said our goodbyes and thanked him for letting us leave our backpacks at his place. We arrived at Gare d'Est and waited about an hour until we had to leave for Munich on an overnight train! Our plan is to now make our way to Greece! So we had to take a night train to Munich, jump on a train to Padova, Italy, then take one more train to the port town of Ancona, Italy. It is there that we would jump on a ferry that took us to Greece.