Two Museums and a Church; Tennis Continues

We put off going to the Louvre for most of our time here, but today was our last chance, so we went early and tried to beat the horde of tourists as they rushed to see the "Mona Lisa." We took a different path - seeing instead "Winged Victory", the "Venus de Milo." It is impossible to do justice to the Louvre's art work, there's just way too much of it. We saw a lot, took some photos and came out ready for lunch and a sit down.


The last of my Louvre photos is one of the Marley Horses (not the ones featured in "The Christmas Carol), but some impressive big stone horses that used to stand outside, but are now under a roof.


We came back to our Paris fifth story apartment and had a bit of lunch - quiche from the bakery and an almond croissant for me. We were able to catch some more tennis from Roland Garros as we rested. French TV has it on all day. We watched Novak Djokovic beat Robby Ginepri, the last American in the men's draw, and rested while trying to keep our aching "dogs" from barking.

And then back to see some more sights of the City of Lights. We took the "one" train, transferred to the "two" train and ended up near the Moulin Rouge, a famous nightspot near the Sacre Coeur Basilica. Sacre Coeur is at the top of the highest hill in Paris and a pretty good climb for folks with barking "dogs." Also, near the Basilica, we found the Dali Museum. Since, as a child I was always denied a Dali, I wanted to see what surrealistic works were on display. There were odd sculptures and strange paintings in abundance. I include one of the tamer ones, "Le Cheval de Triomphe" standing near the odd thumb sculpture which is displayed on the bicyclist's blog, which also has some more Louvre art for those who feel cheated.


Then we finished the walk to the top of the hill and were treated to the view below. Off in the distance it is possible to see the Pompidou Center and other Paris landmarks.


This is another view down the hill. This area was used in the popular French film, "Amalie," which is a favorite of mine and one I'll have to watch again when I get back to the Capitol City of Minnesota.


This is a view up the hill towards Sacre Coeur with a cloudy sky behind it. It was about sixty degrees, a beautiful springlike day and there were a lot of tourists and natives alike enjoying the day.


At the bottom of the hill is this carousel, which is also visible in the movie, "Amalie."


At about this time we decided that we'd had enough touring for the day and walked down the hill, where we caught the number two train home to watch a little more Roland Garros tennis. We managed to catch Rafa Nadal finish off Brazil's top player, Thomaz Bellucci, in straight sets to reach the quarters. Serena also managed a strong win over Shahar Peer.