I think I scared my boys when we got to the Louvre
The Louvre is open late on Wednesday nights but, I was worried that we wouldn’t have time to see the things that I wanted to see or that they had on their list. (What boy reading The DaVinci code doesn’t want to have his picture taken with the inverted pyramid?) We arrived at 5:15pm and there was no entrance line. Obtaining maps, we immediately headed for where we assumed the most crowded area would be – The Mona Lisa. The management of the Louvre has kindly placed signs with arrows directing people to the fastest path to the Mona Lisa. It’s fascinating watching people looking only at those signs and not letting their eyes stray to the sculptures and other artwork they pass between those arrows.
Just before entering the Louvre, my boys had been doing the childish – don’t touch me crap - that drives any parent nuts. I’ll confess that we had been doing the tourist rush to the Mona Lisa before we entered the huge gallery with French painters’ canvases (we had arrived at the correct floor for DaVinci’s work). One of the first canvases I saw was Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People.” I stopped in my tracks and stared and then I started to cry. This is where I panicked my boys. I stumbled backward in front of that bare-breasted woman with the Tri-color until I found myself sitting on a bench in the center of the room with those humongous Delacroix paintings surrounded by my teenagers saying something that could have been an apology for their behaviour. I really don’t know because all I could focus on was this incredible painting that exceeded the size of any wall in my home. I had seen it in textbooks but they didn’t do it justice. The only thing running through my mind was – “I can’t believe that I’m here – I’m really here! This is Paris and I’m in the Louvre.” I have no idea what my children did while I sat there having a meltdown but they were a lot better behaved for the next 2.5 hours. While we visited the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Rembrandt room and the Rubens room.
Just before entering the Louvre, my boys had been doing the childish – don’t touch me crap - that drives any parent nuts. I’ll confess that we had been doing the tourist rush to the Mona Lisa before we entered the huge gallery with French painters’ canvases (we had arrived at the correct floor for DaVinci’s work). One of the first canvases I saw was Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People.” I stopped in my tracks and stared and then I started to cry. This is where I panicked my boys. I stumbled backward in front of that bare-breasted woman with the Tri-color until I found myself sitting on a bench in the center of the room with those humongous Delacroix paintings surrounded by my teenagers saying something that could have been an apology for their behaviour. I really don’t know because all I could focus on was this incredible painting that exceeded the size of any wall in my home. I had seen it in textbooks but they didn’t do it justice. The only thing running through my mind was – “I can’t believe that I’m here – I’m really here! This is Paris and I’m in the Louvre.” I have no idea what my children did while I sat there having a meltdown but they were a lot better behaved for the next 2.5 hours. While we visited the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Rembrandt room and the Rubens room.
posted by Shondratasha at 10:47 PM
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