My unofficial summer job

Since I have been slacking on my blog posts again, the next few posts will probably not be in any chronological order. But no one keeps track of time on vacation anyway. 

Some of my favorite parts of this trip have been the art museums. I only took one art history class, but our syllabus really should have been titled "paintings in the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay." So my knowledge of the beautiful art made the experience even more surreal for me. 

Of course the Louvre is a must see for everyone who visits Paris. I was lucky enough to see it twice. The first time was with my dad, back when I could afford to do the expensive things in Paris. We decided we would get in line super early to beat the crowds. So naturally we slept in and got there late in the morning. It actually turned out to be a perfect plan as we were arriving right as the other tourists were leaving for lunch. But still, this is it not crowded: 

We made a beeline straight for the Mona Lisa before the afternoon crowd showed up. I am honestly not joking when I say it was bigger than I expected! So many people had warned me of it's size that I was pleasantly surprised I could even see it. Seriously, people think this is small?

After we had accomplished our goal of pushing our way to the Mona Lisa, it was time to move on to the Venus de Milo. We spent so much time staring and wondering what her hands were supposed to look like that we later hunted for the best wifi, eventually sitting outside the apple store to look it up. Turns out she's holding an apple and doing a pretty bad job of keeping her skirt on.

Finally, we had the rest of the afternoon to explore and enjoy the other paintings. I mostly wanted to see the paintings by Jacques-Louis David, and they definitely did not disappoint! David is by far one of my favorite painters. I could go on and on about the stories and stylistic detail of each of his massive paintings (my dad will gladly attest to my jabbering on about each piece we passed), but I don't have enough room on a blog to explain my love of his art. The paintings like "Oath of the Horatii" and "The Coronation of Napolean" are so awe-inspiring large and detailed that there is no way to capture them other than saying I could have easily stayed and enjoyed them for hours. 

For me, the rest of the Louvre could not compare to David's paintings, but I was still amazed by the scale and variety of the works throughout the museum. Here are some pictures: 

(P.S. mom: I'm pretty sure dad is determined to redecorate now)

The second time I went to the Louvre was the beginning of my new startup business as a tour guide in English and French. In the hostels I met a group of Canadians planning on going to the Louvre. When I started giving them suggestions on what to see, they all decided to chip in for my ticket if I would guide them through. It turned out to be an amazing experience. Two of them spoke English, and the other two spoke mainly French, so I got to do a lot of translating on top of sharing my knowledge of the paintings. They were a super fun group and surprisingly eager to learn everything I knew! 

Now as much as I love the Louvre, the impressionist museum, Musée d'Orsay was easily my favorite. With works by Degas (my absolute favorite painter), Monet, Renoir, Manet, and all the other influential painters of the nineteenth century, I was practically giddy! Again, I felt like a tour guide taking my dad through the history of the transition from Neoclassical painting to the beautiful Impressionism. Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures of the art, but I did manage to sneak one of "The Gleaners" by Millet that my grandma loved. 

When it comes to art, I don't think it's possible to top the museums in Paris. Until next time, here's a painting of a monkey painting: