Paris Day 4 Part 1

Monday has to be in several parts as it was a day when we went to the Louvre which took the best part of the day even allowing for a few hours in between when we took a stroll through the Tuilleries and into Place de la Concorde enjoying crepes on the way.
While Alison got Maria ready, Bridie and Georgina followed me down the road to the Louvre where the queues were already snaking back over 200 yards with over 20 minutes to go before the museum even opened. We were able to bypass that but it was fascinating to see what the people did when they got let in. There was an almighty scamble for the escalators and hurrying in one general direction leading to the Mona Lisa, La Joconde. Inevitably we joined that scurrying mass and inevitably we too then reacted in the usual way once we found its location. It is rather underwhelming. You are only allowed so close to the painting which is protected by glass and it is rather smaller than expected. The sum result is that it makes one wonder what all the fuss is about. There seem to be many other works which are far more interesting but that may be because I don't know a lot about art and the techniques used.
Thereafter though we enjoyed the walk around and met up with Alison before looking at the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and Delacroix's Liberty painting among many other exhibits.