Michael and Ruthie's adventure in Paris
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Sunday January 19th
We decided to do two things today, my birthday. The first is go to the Louvre. The weather is forcasted rain off and on, so an indoor day is called for. The second is to go for lunch to Le Machon. Le Machon is a resturant we adrore, we found it through the 'Lonely Planet' in 2002 when we were last in Paris. On that occassion we were also with my brother, Bill.
The Lourve
The metro let's us off at the bowels of Louvre where there is essentially a huge, underground, classy mall.
Leading up to the inverted pyramid.
Of course, everyone knows who has read 'The De Vinci Code', that it points to the burial place of Mary Magdalene. I'm sure the line sired by Jesus enjoys a mocha latte from the nearby Starbucks as they gather for pagan rights at that point of the inverted pyramid above her bones that have been secreted away under the floor.
From the lower level we ascended to the main floor. I think most people who see this view through the inside of great glass pyramid of I.M Pei say a simple WOW. The way the moods of the day dapple through that entry way into that great museum can be majestic! This space, I think, creates a cathedral like experience - a vast, enclosed, awesome space.
I found it exhilarating ! From the outside some hate the pyramid. The tension of that futuristic, simple and almost invisible shape beside the Italian Renaissance and Baroque design of the Louvre. After initial reservations, I have grown quite fond of it. It rises like a large, glass conservatory on the grounds of a Baroque estate, and in a metaphorical sense it is a conservatory preserving the aesthetic visions of the artists' of the last eight millennia, give or take a century or two.
