...

I must be one of few people who has to travel all the way to Paris to learn the right pronunciation for 'Louvre'. Incidentally, it's pronounced loo-vruh as opposed to loov. You probably knew that, I don't know where I picked up the bad pronunciation!

Left to wander on my own on Monday, I decided to squeeze in the museum visit - I say squeeze because 650,000 square feet of art simply cannot be achieved in one day. Got my ticket under the glass pyramid which was designed by architect I.M. Pei (see similar patterns in the Bank of China building). I started by exploring the corridors of the Denon wing, where the Italian and Spanish paintings are displayed. Armed with an audio-commentary device (for which I had to leave a credit card as bailment!) I was regaled with tales of war, love, revenge, sacrifice and noble causes as I tried to imagine what each artist's thoughts and inspirations were. By the way, there was a Da Vinci Code audio-commentary tour which costs nearly twice as much as the normal one, but that only highlights the features relevant to the plot of that book of fiction.

That didn't mean I wasn't intrigued by the Madonna of the Rocks, or the Mona Lisa, but the museum is rich with so many other exhibits - why would you limit yourself to the whims of Dan Brown's imagination? There was a huge crowd surrounding the Mona Lisa, which was not only protected by a bulletproof screen/box, there was also a sort of wooden mantel protruding from the wall on which the painting was mounted, to prevent anyone from getting too near. Museum officials patrolled within 5 feet of the painting, occasionally reprimanding tourists who ignore the copious signs banning all photography in the room. It was much smaller than I'd expected... its reputation must have enlarged the image in the mind's eye. Admittedly curious, I found myself scanning the room for signs of security devices designed to snare the potential thief... but I didn't see any (of course).

Apart from the above, these were some of the paintings I remember viewing or being interested in :-

- Saint Francis of Assisi receives the stigmata (Giotto)
- The Wedding Feast at Cana (Caliari)
- Sigismondo Pandolfo Malesta (Piero della Francesca)
- The Raft of the Medusa (Théodore Géricault)
- La Liberté guidant le peuple (Eugène Delacroix)

I also viewed a few sculptures, but only remembered the Venus de Milo and The Winged Victory of the Samothrace, the latter for its dramatic display location - at the top of the staircase leading to the first floor of the Denon Wing where the popular Italian painting collection is housed.

Out of curiosity, I toured Napoleon III's apartments in the Richelieu wing. Ornate and luxurious. Museum fatigue was already setting in (and this only after two hours) and I found myself wandering into the objets d'art department before I happily located the escalator leading out of the buildings and into the area under the glass pyramid.