This trip was a surprise and unplanned. While waiting at the doctor's office last October, I picked up a copy of Smithsonian Magazine while I was waiting. On page 4, an ad for a two week tour to Egypt with Dr. Hawass, the most famous Egyptologist and Archeologist in the world, along with Mrs. Anwar Sadat, the ex-first lady of Egypt, blazed across the page. I was so excited that I made the receptionist copy the ad for me. You see, this has always been my 'Dream Trip'-- to see the pyramids, and I have tried twice in my life to make it, but both trips were cancelled due to unrest in the country. The ad clearly said that safety was a priority, and with these two dignitaries involved, I was sure that it would be safe. I took the ad home and called in with our reservations. We leave in January.
1/8/2018-1/9/18
We left home at 1:15 pm for LAX. We parked our car and shuttled to the airport. The flight was delayed 3 hours but boarded the plane at 9:00 pm. Then we sat on the runway for three more hours waiting to get in line to take off, because we were late. The flight was a non-stop to Paris, then caught a shuttle to our hotel. By the time we got settled in our hotel, we had been traveling for 21 hours, and we were very tired. Here is a picture off of our little balcony - what a sight!
 |
| Eiffel Tower off our balcony |
1/10/18
We had 3 full days to tour Paris before leaving for Cairo, so we made plans to use up day #1 at The Louvre. We had breakfast at the hotel (it was great), and caught a taxi to the Louvre. The museum was once a palace to a French king, so the halls and ceilings were very ornate. Here is some of the ceilings, and the halls.
 |
| Ceiling in the Jewel Room |
 |
| more ceilings |
 |
| Large halls in the Louvre |
Also, the complex is quite large. We headed first to the most famous painting in the museum, the Mona Lisa. Here it is.
 |
| Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci |
There were a lot of people in the room held back behind ropes, but Tom was pushing me in a wheelchair (I cant walk long distances), so they let us go in front of the ropes so we could get right up to the painting. I was surprised that it was much smaller than I expected. It was only 30 in x 21 in, and behind glass, so there is a line in my picture of a reflection.
We saw most everything there. Here is "Winged Victory", a marble Hellenistic sculpture of Nike, the Goddess of Victory. It was created around 200 B.C. and has been housed at the Louvre since 1884.
 |
| Winged Victory |
And here is King Louis XIV in all his glory. This was his favorite painting of himself.
 |
| King Louis XIV |
If you ever get the chance to visit this museum, don't pass it up - it is magnificent. We spent the whole day there, then took a taxi to Café Francis for dinner. We soaked up the Parisian atmosphere and had wine, escargot, soup, and wonderful pasta. It was lovely. We headed out on foot toward the Eiffel Tower (it looked so close), but after many long blocks it still was just as far away. We were too tired to make it, so we walked back to our hotel instead, and flopped into bed---very tired.
Comments
Post a Comment