Thursday, October 06, 2011

The Louvre Museum - Part Two

******no quilting or stitching - Paris post!********

After our refreshing dinner we decided to hop on the Metro to return to the Louvre Museum. Our plan was to explore some more of the museum as it is open late on Wednesdays. We ended up in the Egyptian Wing which was really amazing, but a little eerie at the same time. We hardly saw another person as we meandered our way through multiple sarcophagi (is that the correct plural?) and artifacts of a long gone age. The sheer quantity of the collection is pretty amazing.
You know the "Book of the Dead" that you hear about in horror movies? Did you know that this was an actual thing? In this book are all the instructions that the Egyptions believed that you must follow if you want your soul to go to the afterlife.
It made us sad to think that these people thought that if you followed a formula, buried servants and animals with you and did all these things that your soul would be allowed to continue on - they had no other hope.


This painting depicts the last of the 10 plagues, the death of the firstborn. Interesting to think of the children of Israel in Egypt and the things they went through there before they left.
We felt kind of icky seeing all of the mummified people and animals of all ages and sizes. It felt very depressing, and we were pretty much ready to move on after a bit.


Amazing - just thinking of the age of these items!


And we exited out the pyramid, taking in its beauty in the reflecting pond and fountains. We headed back to our motel for a hot bubble bath and a good nights rest. Another beautiful day in Paris, and tomorrow we would visit one of our most anticipated museums - the Orsay!


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