Paris 2014 Day 3 - The Louvre and the hospital.

Set out early today as we wanted to get the most out of our 2 day museum passes. Took the bus down to Ile de la cite and then walked to the Louvre. Greg was doing a bus tour so we made arrangements to meet him by the Pyramid entrance.

Entrance to Le Louvre from Rue Rivoli.

I know there was a lot of controversy around the glass pyramid entrance in the centre of the courtyard but its grown on me and I now like the modern and the old together. Aimee and I were able to skip the long security line with our passes and the guard took a quick look at our purses and we were in. We picked up a map and Aimee wanted to see the Mona Lisa, the Egyptian artifacts and I wanted to show her Napoleon's apartments. It seemed like a good mix for her first visit and with the passes we can pop in again. Because I have been a number of times I decided to focus more on the building than the art work this time though it is so magnificent and extensive its not as if you can ignore the works of art.

Following the signs to the Mona Lisa

The first room we came into had some magnificent sculptures but the ceiling was
what got my attention.

The ceiling was tiled and there were stone carvings in the corners, in bands of relief and at the top of each pillar. Each pillar had a different subject intricately carved.

 

 There were more. I didn't think you'd want to see them all.

 

Now I was hooked, looking at the ceilings, floors, out the windows at the buildings before even looking at anything else.

Mosaics on one of the galleries floors, just to walk on.
 

Inlaid wood floors too

Skylights were added in the 1750s to let natural light in to display the art work better.

Aimee is somewhere in that crush in front of the Mona Lisa

The picture above is the last one I took today because at that point I got very hot and started to have chest pains. That put an end to the Louve visit. Aimee went to get help and 3 handsome young firefighters came and took my vitals and arranged an ambulance to take me to the hospital. I spent from 11:30 to 3:30 there, with blood work, an ECG, a chest X Ray and finally a clean bill of health. I don't know what happened but they assured me I did not have a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism, good news! Back at the apartment now and taking it easy, we'll see what tomorrow brings.