An American...in Mannheim?: The Louvre

When we got off at the Louvre, at first we a bit confused as to where the Louvre actually was...because this is the Louvre...

And so is this...

Well the Louvre's huge. So before going there, we went to the church across the street...which is awesome.

Here's the church!

The detail was pretty amazing...unfortunately I didn't get to take pictures of the inside because mass was going on, but there were still some cool statutes outside!

Statuary! They actually had small statues going the entire arch of the doorways.

So after that it was time to meet back up with Tam and Leah, so we went through the courtyard, finally to the main entrance.

The main entrance! I don't get why it's the glass pyramids, but at least you can tell it's the entrance. And because it was the first Sunday of the month, free admission!

View from the courtyard...beyond this was gardens and more statues!

It's another guy on a horse!

Although the line looked really long, it only took about ten minutes to get in. They didn't care if you brought food in water in, so if I go again I will definitely bring lunch with me!

Entrance way--there are multiple wings to go to. We only went to two different wings (our stomachs got hungry) but it was definitely a good experience!

View from inside out

All I kept thinking while walking through this hall of statues is that Annie would sure have fun here!

Probably the coolest thing about the Louvre isn't so much the things on the walls (although that's cool too,) but the amazing ceilings. They are all painted or have really detailed molding and statues.

Headless angel?

More cool ceiling work!

They have entire wings for religious artwork...this looks like the stations of the cross at St. Therese!

Some of the pieces were just so huge! This hangs on the opposite wall of the Mona Lisa.

Perspective to how big the painting is!

The Mona Lisa...actually looks better in real life than in any of the prints that I've seen. Other than that, it was a lot smaller than I expected it to be. But I saw it! Mission accomplished. :)

Besides that, we looked at some more paintings, walked all throughout the Egyptian section and the medieval section before going back out into the city.

So here's some of the things I saw!

Hounds...always cool

More impressive ceilings...I hesitate to think how long (and how much money!) the paintings and the gold cost.

Here's the cafeteria...over priced of course, but it looked like pretty good (but small portions) of food!

Part of the medieval Louvre section...there's not much to see, but they built a wooden walkway over the original walkway so you can travel. This part is the only original residential part remaining.