Today I became a member of La Societe des Amies du Louvre—a friend of the Louvre. Did you know that the Smithsonian Magazine lists the Louvre as one of the top 28 places in the world you need to go before you die. For 60 euros, this gives me unlimited access until August 1, 2008 plus I can bring a guest (for free) on Wednesday and Friday evenings. When mon amie, Suz from Seattle, visits in February, she won’t have to a pay an admission, which is currently about $12. I also get free admission to a couple of other city museums (Hotel de Ville, Eugene-Delecroix, etc.) and discounts at some museums and stores.One Metro stop, Palais-Royal-Musee du Louvre, spits you out into an underground shopping center (the Carrousel du Louvre), which then leads into the Louvre (this is not the entry that so dramatically takes you through the pyramid). Hmmm, what do we have here? Something new—a Starbucks! (Before I left to come back home this afternoon, I did break down and have my first Parisian soy chai tea latte—it’s been over a week and I had forgotten how good it tasted.) In the past, I’ve spent every visit in the Denon wing where you see the Grand Gallery, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo—so many of my favorites I enjoy them every time. But it’s time to branch out. And so today, I wandered into the Richelieu wing to follow Rick Steves’ tour of some of the Louvre’s biggest and oldest artifacts from over 2,000 years of Iraq’s history. It was very interesting and I didn't have much company.
With my little carte (required another ugly passport photo), now I’ll have the opportunity (without the expense) to see many more sections of the museum—more than 35,000 works of art and artifacts (300,000 individual pieces) from the ancient world to 1850 housed on four floors. One day I look forward to taking the audio tour inspired by the book and movie, “The Da Vinci Code,” which has its opening scene here in the Grand Gallery. So another very good day—which started sunny but ended up with the normal on and off sprinkling—reminds me of Seattle’s weather when I lived there… I can’t speak for their weather now, however…AND GUESS WHAT??? I found the memory card for my camera! It was in the card reader hooked into my PC from when I uploaded pictures on Saturday night. I forgot to take it out! Thank you, Lord. I still “heard” your lessons…
