Europe Trip. Day 3: Paris, France

Joie de vivre is a French phrase to express a cheerful enjoyment of life and that's how our heart felt for this city. Yet, the feeling continues when we visited the majestic and iconic Louvre Museum that tell so many stories from the arts collection, to the building itself. It was initially built as a fortress at early twelfth century and then to became a palace during the reign of King Charles V in the fourteenth century. However, it turned out to be a museum during the French Revolution in late seventeenth century

The building itself  is rather overwhelming that divided into three main sections, Sully, Richelieu and Denon. Wiki: The Musée du Louvre contains about 460,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objects d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. There’s something quite special about seeing these famed creations up close and in person.

We began early to take metro to Concorde (M12) station. Upon got off the metro, we headed towards Musee du Louvre entrance via the Jardin des Tuileries. Just for your info, Musée de l'Orangerie located in this garden.

We took the metro before 8 in the morning

We took the picture of Luxor Obelisk again

Jardin des Tuileries early in the morning

Lepak-lepak at the Octagonal Pond

Jules César Statue

Nearing to the Carrousel

Ku lihat hijau.......

Eye of Paris by the Siene river bank

Porte des Lions on the Denon wings

Carrousel Arc de Triomphe

By the time we reached the glass pyramid, there was a long line...

Fortunately, we skipped the line as we got the Museum Pass

Down to the lower ground from the entrance, we aimed to reach room 711 as early as possible to avoid the crowds. Located at the two level up, we walked as fast as we can! By the time we reached there, we managed to squeeze in to get the best spot and swiftly took the pictures of Mona Lisa portrait! All of sudden, Nu'man voiced up, 'kita berlari sebab nak tengok gambar nenek nie ke?' :P

We were going up the escalator actually

The Winged Victory of Samothrace at the first floor

Alaaa... dah ramai orang ke?

Her name was actually Lisa Gheradini

Nasib baik boleh menyelit ke depan!

I guessed it was an A4 size of portrait

We took a break for a while..

... and enjoying the painting on the ceiling

Venus de Milo @ Room 16, Ground Floor – Sully

Nu'man nak bawak balik boleh tak?

Sleeping Hermaphroditus, by unknown artist

Invitation to the dance

A  headless woman

A bronze statue of Roman army

Macam patung tak?

Not a typical photoshot of Louvre with pyramid background

The inner courtyard exiting through the Colonnade

The Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois facing the Colonnade

Pit stop at Quai Francois Mitterand

Souvenirs and art shops along the riverbank of Siene

Crossing the Pont Neuf to Ile de Cite

After crossing the bridge, we turned right to Square du Vert Galant and searched for Henri IV statue, symbolize ‘gay old park’. Then continued east pausing at Place Dauphine before proceed to La Conciergerie, formerly a prison but presently used mostly for law courts. Note that the entrance was a bit unnoticeable.

Henri IV statue at the Square du Vert Galant

These were private boats docked by the river

Small park called Place Dauphine

Fragment of the black marble table used during the sumptuous receptions held by the monarchy

The Hall of the Guards also call Grand Salle

Wealthy or influential prisoners usually got their own cells with a bed, desk and materials for reading and writing. 

While the poorest would be confined to dark, damp, vermin-infested cells known as oubliettes

Wooden dinner table

The courtyard for women prisoners

We headed east along Rue de Lutece, reaching the small market of flowers called Marché aux Fleurs - Reine Elisabeth II.

Cantik nya.......

Our next stopped was the most dramatic Notre-Dame. We planned to visit the cathedral itself but the queue was quite long so we just having free time in front the buildings. Centre Pompidou was another attraction that we skipped that day. I guessed we have much experience at the Louvre made us to skipped. Anyway, it's about 20 minutes walk from the Notre-Dame

Approaching the cathedral

In front of a medieval Catholic cathedral

A long queue for the Notre-Dame as well

We gave it a try to this highly positive reviews through googling

After simple lunched, we walked for another 10 minutes to the Hotel de Ville, which has been the seat of the Paris City Council since 1357. The current building, with a neo-renaissance style, was built by architects Théodore Ballu and Edouard Deperthes.