Venus de Milo and Lots of Dead People

On the third day in Paris, Michaella did….. this is not going into the jingle that I had hoped.

This morning I woke up and hung out with dead people. That’s right, I went to the Catacombs. Once upon a time, everyone in Paris was getting sick from their water being contaminated with dead people… so they decided to take over 6 million bodies and move them into a place called the Catacombs. At least they did so artfully. It’s a hike down to this place, and then you see bones on bones on bones. I thought, whoa, at first. Then it kept going and going and going. Then I was like, whoa. I don’t know what it says about me, but this thought went through my mind as I was walking through the catacombs, “I wonder if Dr. Brennan would be able to identify these bodies?” It was a lot to handle. There are SO MANY people, and they go back forever. I’ll let you see what I’m talking about:

At least the French made them decorative?

That’s right- a heard made of human skulls.

Annnnd this was my reaction after awhile.

So the catacombs are a mixture between a tomb and a cave. The cave part comes in when water drips on you. My immediate reaction- ah great, human juices in my hair. Looking beyond my sarcasm, the Catacombs are a cool experience, but it definitely is creepy.

When I finally got some fresh air, I headed to the Musee d’Orsay. This is art after the 1850s (my favorite). I took a few hours and went through every room, proudly. The impressionists will probably always be my favorite era in art, and the Orsay has a kick-ass collection. I hung out with Van Gogh, Degas, Renior, Manet, Monet, and also found some people I didn’t know by name. Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro are artists I will have to keep an eye out for. Also, I dug the pointillism they had. It was, how do you say, on point.

You are not allowed to take pictures of the art, but they do have an AWESOME clock(s). The Musee d’Orsay used to be an old train station back in the day, before it got turned into a museum.

At this point, I was starving… so I finally experienced a Parisian cafe. I ordered myself a pizza… and it was huge. I proudly ate all of it.

Look- I’m trying new things! I’ve never had a fried egg on my pizza before. It was pretty tasty.

After I caught my second wind- I went to the world’s most famous art museum- the Louvre.

I had been warned that the Louvre is about 7 museums in one and I would never get to see everything. These warnings were 100% correct. It is HUGE. It lives in an old palace, after all. I didn’t plan carefully enough and only have 2 and a half hours here. At the same time, I knew that I’m not a huge fan of the really old artworks, and I know what I do like (which is why I carefully combed through the Orsay). But the Louvre is home to some of the worlds most famous pieces. On the map (and you need one, the Louvre is literally a maze. I got lost WITH a map!) they give you 6 key pieces for each of the 4 floors. I scrambled trying to see them all. I did my best, but saw what I really wanted.

Ever hear of the Venus de Milo?

(also, check out my rad new scarf!)

The Winged Goddess of Victory was my favorite piece.

The museum itself is art. I had a blast looking at all the ancient Greek sculpture.

Oh, you must be wondering about the Mona Lisa? Perhaps the worlds most famous painting? Yeah, definitely saw that.

A note on the Mona Lisa- look at how small she is. And the crowds to see it is CRAZY. I’m not going to lie, I might have cried a little bit. I don’t know. This has been happening a lot where I stop to think for a second, “holy cow I’m here. I’m looking at the Mona Lisa right now.” and I tear up a little. I just can’t believe how blessed my life is right now. So thank you for reading about it :). Back to the Mona Lisa, it is really cool. It has a whole wall to itself. But it’s kind of underwhelming at the same time.

I wanted you guys to see the setup. Haha.

And with that, I am tuckered out. That’s a whole lot of culturing for one day. I saw some of the greatest masters of history and was awed. I had this thought- will there be any artist who completely revolutionizes the art world again? Or is that phase behind us? I look at some things of modern art and think these people are wack jobs, so I am very curious to see if anyone reshapes the way we look at art. Best of luck you artists. Also, a lot of the greats didn’t get known until after they were dead…. so there is that.

I mean, if you didn’t take this picture, did you even go to the Louvre?

Thanks for tuning in!