The Mona Lisa--It Was Not as Popular Back Then

Cafe Audace, May, 6, 2015, 8:42 p.m.

Today's blog title comes from the clever mind of my darling Maddie. After today's crowd gathered around the Mona Lisa, she commented that the reason I saw it better in 1996 was that "it was not as popular back then."  Maybe it only became popular when Marcel Duchamps drew a mustache on it, but that was before my time. 

Today's agenda included a visit to the world famous Louvre. It was fairly crowded; I can only guess that much of China is empty right now as there were several large tour groups from that nation.

This poor fellow had a hole in ass

Maddie and Heidi at the Last Supper Cocktail Party

One of my favorites--Liberty Leading the People 

We saw the usual stars:  Winged Victory, Mona, Michaelangelo's Slaves, several of the best works by Delacroix, Marriage at Cana, and the small Lacemaker by Vermeer. 

The girls made a new friend, John the Baptist. Whether in Luini's painting or other paintings and sculptures, Maddie and Heidi enjoyed the sight of this saint minus his head, usually on the plate as requested by Salome.

Maddie and Heidi loved this one best 

Me?  I liked the same things I've liked there before.  The historical scenes as painted by Delacroix and David are amazing.  They, of course, cannot represent the actual event as it happened.  But they can tell a lot about how the people in power wanted the event to be seen by the larger public.  I love the painting of Napoleon's coronation, in which Nappy lifts up the crown to place it on his own head--a head much further from the ground than it probably was in real life.  And his mom, who wasn't there, has been added.  And why not? If you're Nappy and you want your mom to be at your coronation, well, just photoshop her in via your friend the artist.

Heidi found early ice hockey 

The Lacemaker

We spent several hours at the Louvre, evening stopping in one of the cafes for a delicious lunch.  But the crowds were overwhelming, and it did feel good to get out of there.  We walked past the Carrosel Arch and into the Tuilleries gardens.  This is when it decided to rain for several minutes. Maddie, Heidi, and I were all wearing hoodies--plus, I had Yvette's beloved Paris umbrella. Reiner had decided when we left the hotel that he didn't need his jacket.  Yeah, he was the one running for the cover of the trees when the raindrops fell.

Walking along the Champs Elysees was very much the same as it was when I was here in September.  There were many expensive stores--too expensive for our resident shopper and bargain hunter, Heidi.  Then the girls saw the one shop that they'd been dying to go in since we set foot on this continent nearly three weeks ago:  McDonald's.  I'll admit, I was homesick enough to agree to a quick meal there.  A regular ol' McChicken and fries really hit the spot. 

I know.  I feel badly about it.

Comforted by the familiar American fast food, we headed for the Arc de Triomphe.  Reiner wanted to go to the top, but he was unable to interest any of the rest of us as it was very windy and cold.  So, he and Maddie walked around underneath the arch, and Heidi and I stayed cozy in the tunnel beneath.  

Onto the Metro and off to a stop that was only about Reiner (although he claimed that it was really for Heidi)--the Moulin Rouge.  This "cabaret" or "burlesque" is nothing at all like it was back in the days when Toulouse Lautrec hung out there or when Colette got the place shut down in the first decade of the twentieth century by kissing her girlfriend on stage.  The place now is an indistinguished building with a red windmill on top sandwiched in between other buildings and shops, across the street from a strip club.  There were lots of tourists snapping photos with the Moulin Rouge in the background, and many tourists were in line to see a show, but that's about all there was to it.  On the bright side, Reiner found an adorable salt-and-pepper set for Heidi there.

I needed some peace after a stressful day of negotiating crowds of people and a daughter who hates crowds of people (you know who you are, daughter), so I announced that I was stopping at the corner cafe by our Metro stop for a cafe creme and "peace."  My family members agreed to the "non-bitching" rule (with the amendment that bitching about 'Merica was allowed), so we stopped in. It turned out to be a nice place to hang out, a friendly bar man, lively other people chatting and such.  And, I do love me a nicce cafe creme.  But I cannot imagine what the people in the cafe thought when Maddie and Heidi insisted on singing the Harry Potter Puppet Show song (Snape, Snape, Severus Snape--DUMBLEDORE!). 

More art tomorrow, plus a planned visit to Notre Dame.  Only a few days of vacation left...