02.09.2011 – 02.09.2011  28 °C

Louvre day today! Started my day early as I knew it was going to take most of the day to have a good look at the museum. I started in the Italian gallery and this time had a good look at all the paintings in the Great Gallery before moving into the Large French Painting Gallery. I would have spent a good hour or more just ogling at some of the huge paintings that hang in this gallery. The majority of the paintings were created in the late 18th and early 19th century and focus around the events of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s subsequent campaigns. My favourite is “Liberte” by David, a picture that shows the mob fighting for freedom during the revolution!

By the time I had finally finished in just the Italian and large French section it was well after lunch time so I went hunting a snack back downstairs and took some time out to write some postcards. After a break I went back into the Louvre this time to not look at paintings but to enter the artefact area and Napoleon III’s apartments. This part of the Louvre contains curios and weird trinkets that have been collected over the years! There is a whole room dedicated to clocks! One of the rooms that really impressed me is a room full of porcelain that is finely painted with scenes from biblical stories. Considering the age of the porcelain the lustre of the colour and the definition of the painting is fairly incredible!

I finished my long day in the Louvre by checking out Napoleon III’s apartments. He had these remodelled in the Louvre after the demolition of the Tuileries palace. I would say that these apartments are probably the most ornate apartments I’ve seen of any palace I’ve entered! These apartments are complete with furniture, carpet and ornaments so you can actually see exactly how they were when they were in use two hundred years ago! (Unlike most apartments were all of the furniture has either been sold or rotted over the years!!)

Finished the day with a really tasty paella before heading home for an early night. Off to London tomorrow!