The Louvre

This remarkable collection of art from across the globe captures the essence of human life and emotions through out the ages. I gaze up at these gigantic paintings, murals, and sculptures of monumentous events and famous people, the best works of art have captured the feelings portrayed and the emotions that was trying to be shown.

Some paintings like the Raft of Medusa and the random painting of the man being pulled into hell by the angel of death, depict pure emotions that can be seen on the peoples face with a strong message being told in the background. It’s amazing how one can capture such an event so vividly  and also convey their message so clearly.

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The beauty of just sitting and enjoying art made by the forefathers of what we consider art and science today (what most of us consider good art atleast) is an absolutely breathtaking and inspiring activity. I can only sit to marvel at these pieces of work and imagine what kinds of visionaries were able to make these paintings and sculptures. Wonder what it takes to have such eye for beauty and dedication for meticulous detail.

However, all the tourists seem to be :

“Chomping at the bit”

to keep going - spending a couple of seconds in front of this painting and taking a picture of this one right here, then running to the next room. Though I can understand the desire to make the most of the 12 Euros you paid, I felt like the beauty in being here in front of these paintings was sitting down and reveling at all the minute details that could not be marveled on a photo.

Regardless, after 5 hours of awe, I too had caved to just peruuzing the photos. There is just definitely too much to take in. I had read that

If you were to spend 60 seconds in front of each item in the Louvre, it would take you 2 years to see everything!

So we just set out to see the so called “masterpieces”.

While digging around some of the hidden wings of the Louvre, searching for the last few paintings on our short list of masterpieces, I stumbled across a hidden gem. Probably one of the few Ethiopians to make it into the Louvre (as far as I know):

A beautiful painting depicting an important story in Ethiopian history. Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian states and this painting shows apostle Philip baptizing the Ethiopian queen that he met on the road. This important biblical story painting on this canvas tells the tail of how my country first became a Christian nation.

With this finding, I was satisfied with my trip to the Louvre, and felt fully enriched. I could call it a day and rest easy. Once we found the two remaining paints, we wrapped up our 6 hour trip to the museum to go back to the hostel and get some rest. On our way out, we got a last few looks of this marvelous castle protecting all these great works. The buildings it self was a work of art and it looked spectacular at all times of the day. I have to say though, I really enjoyed watching the sun set on it’s beautiful glass pyramid though.

By now the energy had run low and conversation was dying. Our walk back to the hostel was becoming more and more unpleasant. After walking around the largest museum all day with only a granola bar for lunch, it’s hard not to be drained out.

But finally Mariah bit the bullet and said we had to eat. I was hungry too, so there was not much protest at all. Though we wanted to continue enriching our French emersion with “ethnic food” (which I’m still not sure that is), the first burger place that we saw, we just caved. The hunger was too high and the food looked too good. But the time was well spent, and the burgers were definitely no fast food dish, prepared with a lot of care and served with even more finesse.

Afterwards life was back and so was the conversation. We had the necessary energy to keep enjoying the beautiful streets of Paris…