Catch up

Here is where I am planning on catching up on lots of things I didn't have time for before.  I tagged along to the math conference this morning, because there is free wifi.  We usually go to an English bar with "free wifi" -free unless you count the pints of beer we are consuming while we are there.

First - here is our hotel:

Our room is on the first floor and our window is the far right with the geraniums.  The ground floor is the floor you walk into, and the room numbers are 2 digits.  Ours is on the first floor above the ground floor.  You leave the key at the desk as you come and go, so they can clean your room, etc.  When we first got into the room, we couldn't figure out why the electricity didn't seem to work.  You have to insert your key into a socket on the wall to turn on the electricity.  When you take out the key, the electricity goes off.  So, you can't leave anything on in the room while you are not there.

Here is a photo of the metro -

They are like buses with rubber tires and everything, that run on the tracks underground, and sometimes they pop aboveground as well.  You open the doors on most of them manually, and you can open them before the train stops.  The newer trains open the doors automatically.  Also, no one speaks on the trains, people are generally quiet all the time.  And the terminals are fairly clean, I think they hose them down about once a week and use soap - one terminal I exited had just been cleaned and smelled very fragrant and clean. 

Here are some more photos of Le Louvre - probably the greatest museum on the planet:

Sword and crowns from coronation of Louis XV - the smaller one was made for his son, the dauphin, who then became Louis XVI.

Pyramid entrance to the Louvre - enter here if you want to stand in line a loooooog time.

The mall entrance, through Le Carousel de Louvre, is much faster and you come in right here:

Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code claims the holy grail is in this lower pyramid.

Other photos of the courtyard of the Louvre, as taken from inside at different spots:

Some of the fantastic things I saw at the Louvre:

Winged Victory or Nike of Samothrace - very cool to see in person

Throne of Napoleon I.

Napoleon's bedroom - what are the chairs and couches for?  Spectators - of what?????

Napoleon III's apartment - no wonder the underclass revolted - they had no bread and the king was living like this!

Greek pyxis - for you Hannah!!

Sword of Charlemagne, first Holy Emperor of what became France, dated to 800 CE.  His reign began the Carolingian Empire. (Very cool - thinking of Gabe, here.) 

All the people looking at, or not looking at, the Mona Lisa. you can just see the corner of it past the tall guy in the stripes.

Another angle of people not looking at the Mona Lisa. 

Self portrait of Albrecht Durer - printmaker extroidonaire (for you Liz)

Aphrodite, better known as Venus de Milo - and a spectator saying That's by daVinci, right dad?" And Dad saying "That's right!" Well, unless Leonard was sculpting in 800 BCE, I don't think so. My recollection has it that Leonardo was painting. sculpting, etc, in the 15th century. I'm such an elitist.