THE LOUVRE

I think this was what Kevin was looking forward to the most.  Our tour of the Louvre.  And he wasn’t disappointed.  The Louvre is spectacular!  It’s not just a bunch of paintings everywhere, it is so much more.  It includes old, refurbished statues and the crown jewels.

The Louvre started out as a fortress, built in 1190 to defend against the English.  In 1546 it was rebuilt by King Francis to serve as his royal residence.

Napoleon Bonaparte made the Louvre into the largest museum in the world.  He named it the Napoleon Museum.  According to our tour guide, Fiona, Napoleon was very vain and put his mark in places all over the Louvre.  After he was exiled, his marks were all removed and some were replaced with others marks such as King Henry.  Napoleon was responsible for a lot of the Egyptian pieces.

During WW2 a lot of the art at the Louvre was transported to other locations to hide them from the Germans.  Mona Lisa was one of these pieces moved several times to keep it hidden.  After the war, she was returned.

In 1911, Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by an Italian, Vincenzo Peruggia, who was a handyman at the Louvre.  He did this as an act of Patriotism (so he said) as he believed the painting to have been stolen from Italy by France and he just wanted to return it.  He kept it in his apartment, in Paris, under his stove for two years until he brought it to Florence, Italy.  He then decided to sell it and that is how he got caught.  He was sentenced to two years but only served seven months (because of his so-called act of patriotism).

Other Louvre Pieces

A Little Paris Politics

Paris, or France in general has a lot of political issues.  Just as our country has its issues, so does France.  They have a general disdain for their politicians in general but they have a strong disdain for their current president, Emmanuel Macron.

France has a history of their president using his high-handed power.  What that means is they override the popular vote on issues and make the decision on their own.  This has been done more than 100 times since the 1950’s.  The more current use is the change in their pension reform.  A reform that was rejected by 70% of the French voting population.  This moves their retirement age from 62 to 64.  

And from what I have learned about the French, this is significant.  The French have a reputation for not wanting to work.  So telling them they have to work for two more years means a lot to them.  Apparently enough to make them revolt.  There have been violent protests over this so much so that the country’s national security threat is at a medium level.  There is a medium level of risk for terrorists attacks.  Attacks that could be indiscriminate, random targets.

Their President is known for favoring the elite (rich) and dismissing the middle class concerns.  He has used his privilege of overruling votes to suit his views many times and the French people literally hate him.

Some believe this will lead to a civil revolt beginning with violent protests which have already begun.  We were walking around the Eiffel Tower area and there were armed military men walking around.  At one point a gun was pointed at me, not intentionally, but pointed at me just the same.  

YIKES!!  I didn’t like it.  Kevin assured me that the safety was probably on, etc., etc. but YIKES!!

Another Paris Issue

Another issue pertaining specifically to Paris is their air quality.  It’s bad!  It is among the worst in Europe.  It is deadly!  More than 48,000 people die each year from air pollution related issues.

It is mostly due to the cold, windless weather trapping car and truck exhaust fumes, smoke from wood-burning chimneys and of course industrial exhaust.  They say that if you come to Paris for a weekend, it is equivalent to smoking two cigarettes.  For people who live here it is equivalent to smoking almost 200 cigarettes a year.

Poor Kevin has had a headache or migraine every day since we have been here.  And of course, of all the places we visited in the past 6 weeks Paris is our longest stay.  We noticed the first day our eyes were itchy, we were sneezing and we both had headaches.  My sinuses are acting up and Kevin is getting migraines daily.

I’m kind of over visiting all these big metropolitan cities.  Political unrest, air pollution, traffic, population, etc. not really my thing.  I’m ready to go home to the comfort of my little condo.  

Uh-oh sounds like maybe I am a little homesick doesn’t it?

But still ………

I wouldn’t trade my Paris experience …………. especially seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Ca a été grandiose!!