Saturday November 7, 2009
Twice smitten
By NG SU-ANN
Paris, so grand and so steeped in history, is like a living museum.
You have to be deported. No visa, no entry.” The immigration officer’s words dealt a big blow to our excitement. My friend and I had just flown in to Marrakesh from Amsterdam.
Scenes of shopping at the famous Moroccan bazaar and visiting the sand dunes of the Sahara instantly fizzled out before you could say “Poof!”
The Louvre Museum. — NG SU-ANN I had not known that Malaysians needed a visa for Morocco and my mistake had caused us our trip.
I felt really awful for my friend whose Dutch passport had gained him instant entry.
Trying to cheer me up, he suggested we drive to Paris the next day. And cheered me up, he certainly did.
In a luxurious BMW, we arrived at the French capital in style and comfort. Although this was my second time in Paris, its splendour and atmosphere still took my breath away.
In the city centre, we were surrounded by awe-inspiring, grand buildings. If their walls could talk, imagine the stories they would spin.
Making an interesting observation, my friend said: “Paris is one big museum, isn’t it?”
Paris is a city of fountains. Strolling along the River Seine and surrounded by these giants of beauty, I felt that his remark certainly hit the nail on the head. It is like the city was built to impress and inspire.
Artists want to paint it, writers want to pen it and musicians want to sing it. As for me, I simply want to celebrate it in this article.
The multi-faceted character of this vibrant metropolis is distinct. Its magnificent skyline with the soaring Eiffel Tower and dozens of world-famous monuments is easy to recognise from afar.
Steeped in history, breathtaking in beauty and rich in charm, the French capital has served as an inspirational muse to countless poets, writers and artists.
And what better way to further uncover its artistic treasures than to explore the Louvre Museum.
For me, this is the mother of all museums and I was glad to be another statistic to its number of visitors.
The last time I was in Paris, the ticketing line had at least 200 people. So, I made visiting the museum my ultimate aim this time around.
Although the entrance fee is ‚9 (RM47), a kind tourist asked if we were visiting the Louvre and gave us two tickets.
We discovered that the museum officers at the entrance only glanced at our tickets as we entered. So, we could recycle the tickets within the same day. Sweet!
Housing myriad works of art and history, the Louvre is the national museum of France and the most visited museum in the world.
Like most visitors, I wanted to meet its three grand ladies: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace.
However, after an hour of visiting room after room of other displays, I wondered if the three women were overrated.
What made them stand apart from the others who seemed to be equal in beauty and style? Perhaps they owed it to their famous creators or simply that their cousin Lady Luck chose to smile on them.
Some 35,000 items dating between prehistory and 19th century are displayed within an area of 60,600sq m.
The museum is actually housed in the Louvre Palace which began as a fortress built in the 12th century under Phillip II.
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum. In 1793, it opened with 537 paintings, most of which were confiscated church and royal property. The size of the collection surged under Napoleon when the museum was renamed Musee Napoleon.
After his defeat, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners.
As of last year, the collection is grouped into eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; and Prints and Drawings.
A stone’s throw from the museum, you will find the Tuileries Gardens with stone statues waiting to impress and serve as photo subjects.
We stopped here to rest while my friend fed some pigeons with his half-eaten bread.
Next, we headed to one of the world’s finest avenues — Champs-Elysees. Millions stroll up and down this 1.9km long boulevard every year. It is a fashion promenade where myriad designer brands in shopping arcades are located on both sides of the road.
During dinner, we decided to have our meal in one of those street-lined cafés.
Paris is a place where you can drink in its essence and the individualism of its people by sitting with a glass of wine at a sidewalk café.
Asking directions in English from the locals can be quite a chore.
I remembered being told that the French were still sore over their defeat to England in the Battle of Waterloo.
I was lucky that my friend could converse in basic French. Thus, we managed to order our meals, travel on subway trains and get directions without too much hassle.
A visit to Paris would not be complete without stopping at the Eiffel Tower whose massive dimensions and grandiosity have become the Parisian symbol of modernity.
It was built by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 for the Paris International Exhibition which received two million visitors.
This masterpiece of engineering art has been described as the ‘‘shepherdess watching over the flock of bridges’’ and the ‘‘sky guitar’’.
For me, it is simply a majestic presence which has deservingly become the architectural hallmark of Paris. C’est la vie!
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