Day 2 - Contrasting Art Galleries

Day 2 was art day, starting with the Louvre in the morning followed by some modern "art" in
the afternoon at the Pompidou Centre (see next post for that).

Although Mary-Jean had told us the passes were cheaper at the airport, we did not buy them there due
to the utter chaos we had encountered on arrival. Monday morning saw us at a shop in the Louvre
Carousel (an underground mall) where we bought two passes and a louvre guidebook for 145
Euros - CASH! This drained us of all but 4 Euros and would haunt us later at the Louvre
Starbucks (you heard that right).

Random thoughts about the Louvre:
- there are so many people here and they all have digital cameras
- first sighting is Venus de Milo, nice looking girl. too bad about the arms
- the Winged Victory of Samothrace is awe inspiring. It dates back to about 200 BC
- the Mona Lisa (or La Jaconde as the French call her) is probably the most photographed
  object on the planet. I've posted one of my photos and one of the throng.
- we tried to cherry pick items in the Paris Day-to-Day guide, but 3 of the top 5 were out
  on loan
- There is a lot of mediocre French 16th and 17th Century art on the second floor of the
  Sully wing
- We stumbled on the Dutch wing and saw more Rembrandts than at the much ballyhooed
   exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.