Hightlights of the Louvre

Bonjour mes amies!
I felt pretty good this morning, so when it was early and still cool I went out walking saying I'd come back home in a bit.  Just around the corner I discovered folks setting up a market.  I love markets!  Though this wasn't a big one I enjoyed looking.  I decided to walk some more and get cash. I easily found an atm from the bank that was partners with mine--ha--no fees!  And I still felt good, and it was cool, so I walked some more.
Down the street from me is the Gobelins Manufactury in a handsome building still making tapestries the way they did back in the days of Louis XIV.  I understand there are tours only in French alas, but it sounds like a cool thing to do.  So I kept walking.  I found yet another market and looked around.  I succeeded in buying a carnet of ten metro tickets from a machine, but I kept walking.
The rather vague plan was to meet up with a former student and her friends and tackle the Louvre, so I kept walking until I got there--a good hour including stops.  Now this museum is on every visitor's to Paris must do list and rightly so, but the result is that the crowds are immense even at opening.  I got my museum pass, but despaired of ever finding my friend.  So I got in line to get in--and then I spotted her and quickly went to greet her.
Having all purchased the passes we did not have to wait for an hour to get in.  We just nipped through security, down the escalators and there we were.  My former student had taken my Art History class and one of her friends had also taken Art History and both had ideas of what they'd like to see.
They, too, had rented an apartment from Airbnb, which usually works out fine, but this one didn't have air conditioning, and since they couldn't sleep, they moved to an hotel.
We pretty much wandered around like a Louvre highlight film.  We saw Venus de Milo.  All of us wanted to see Nike of Samothrace, and then after that we said hi to Mona.  The other Leonardos go neglected, but we got a really good look at the Virgin of the Rocks and the Virgin and Ste. Anne.  My student wanted to see Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix and on the way we encountered the Raft of the Medusa--large and very powerful seen in person--as all this art should be seen.  You can study a high quality plate forever but still see more in the actual work.
I'm not going to continue to list paintings and sculptures, but the Louvre is packed, crowded and overwhelming. so after a few hours of this, we went and got water as we were all dehydrated by that time and then bid farewell.  They were off to the D'Orsay.  I went to get cheese.
Yes.  More cheese.  Even though my local grocery has a staggering three aisles of cheese, I went to a fancy formagier.  I have some Rouquefort which is one of the oldest if not the oldest recognized cheeses in France.  It's made from milk from a particular breed of sheep and aged in caves to pick up that famous mold.  Hey!  Even Charlemagne loved the stuff.  One needs the lait cru or raw milk version which you can even find in the United States because it's aged.  I have it spread on a demi baguette that I got from Eric Kayser's shop.  Here's the deal with baguettes.  They are divine, but they do not keep.  Because the bread is made without fat, it goes stale within hours.  That's why you see the French carrying them around for consumption that day.  Used to be they would eat baguette for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but bread consumption has fallen off.  The true artesienal baguette has pointed ends and a rough crust with no regular marks on the bottom.  It has a thick crisp crust and the inside has a lot of holes.  It is the perfect vehicle for cheese.  And the cheese is lovely.  Some speculation exists that the mold in natural cheeses protects French hearts from all that SatFat.  I hope it's true!
A demain!