argh!  shame on me for taking so long between updates.
and I always mean to write and I have the very best intentions.  oh that road to hell...

So the biggest news in the past 2 weeks is that I jetted to Paris, France for a 2 day stay.  Just like that.  Last minute, spur of the moment.  Greg had such a great time in Cartagena the week before he was in Paris.  And then when he told me of the beautiful weather in Paris I bat my eyelashes at him to bring me over.
The batting of the eyelashes must have worked because he immediately checked to see if he could get me out there on points.  Within an hour in which I checked that my mom could babysit while I flew off to Europe, I was booked!  So it was Sunday that we booked and Tuesday night that I left.  I was back again on Friday afternoon.  Whirlwind travel, not gone for very long but very exciting and yet comfortable at the same time!

On my first day in Paris, I walked all over the city to see some of the major tourist sites.  Walked from Gare de Lyon along the Seine to Notre Dame.  From Notre Dame I walked past the Palais de Justice to the Louvre.  Went into the museum to look around for a bit but then decided against purchasing a ticket for such a short period of time.  Then walked through the Jardin de Tuileries to Place de la Concorde.  From there I got some nice views of the Eiffel Tower before crossing the Seine to the Rodin Museum.  I spent a couple of hours there, my favourite museum in Paris.  Because I was so close to the Eiffel Tower from this point, I figured I had to go see it up close.  I walked past Les Invalides before coming up on the tower.  I didn't go up as there were so many people.  I really only need to go up once anyway unless I have a lot of time to kill.  After this I was tired!  I hadn't gotten much sleep on the overnight flight and had just walked across a lot of the city.
I took the train out to the suburbs where Greg was working to meet up with him.  We had a fabulous Moroccan dinner there.

The next day I had planned to visit the Louvre then the Pompidou, which wasn't open the last 2 times I was in Paris.  Between museums I wanted to walk past the Opera and then the Bastille, which I also hadn't seen before.  Turned out I ended up spending the entire day in the Louvre.
I hung out mostly in the french and italian sculpture rooms.  I also viewed my favourite french paintings, Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804 by David and La Jeune Martyre (The Young Martyr) by Delaroche.
It's amazing but everytime I see Martyre I notice something new.  You can't see it at all in the picture from the link above but there looks to be a boat on the shores of the lake or river that the woman is floating in as well as a figure standing beside it.  I don't know if it's meant to be part of the painting or if the images were removed from the picture and just show up as shadows because the were painted over.  Also, in front of the sunset in the top corner is a man with a horse.  I always ask myself, is it someone coming to help this woman or is it the person who killed her?  It's so fascinating.  And the way the halo shines over the woman's face is just divine.  I love looking at this painting whenever I go the Louvre.  Here is a picture of it that I took when I was there.  I wasn't actually supposed to be taking pictures in this room but I didn't use flash.  Can you see the images I mention?
The Coronation is amazing simply because of it's size and detail.  The feathers on Josephine's robes are so real and the paint actually stands out from the canvas to make it appear lifelike.

My favourite sculptures in the Louvre have always been Canova's Cupid and Psyche and Cupid Reviving Psyche.  Isn't it so pretty?  I can just stare at the detail of the marblework for hours.  I discovered 2 new favourite italian sculptures while I was there.  The Veiled Lady by Corradini and The Nymph and the Scorpion by Bartolini.  The first time I had seen a sculpture with the facial features showing through a veil was in the movie Pride and Prejudice.  It was stunning.  This is the same technique.  I think it's so amazing that anyone can work with the marble to achieve this kind of effect.  As for the Bartolini work, the skill of the sculptor is so evident by how real the sculpture looks.  I love the folds in the stomach of the nymph and close up you can see the frown on her face because she's been stung by a scorpion.
Sculptures like this amaze me as it feels like the people could just stand up and walk away.  The realism is awesome.  It's why I also like the Rodin Museum so much.  Sculpture just does it for me.  Here are two of my favourites from the Rodin Museum.  The Kiss and Eternal Idol.  Just so sumptuous.

It really was a lovely day at the Louvre filled with many more wonderful sculptures.

I'll have to finish this off in another post.  I've got to get ready for dodgeball!