27/7 Visiting Museum du Louvre, Military Museum and Moulin Rouge

Today got up in the morning, and then I went to the canteen to have my breakfast. We could have two bread and one cup of drink, I think this was the simplest breakfast in our trip, in the previous city we could have ham and eggs. Then, we went to the Museum du Louvre, one of the greatest museums in Europe. In the Square before the museum, we could see three glass pyramid, they were the entrance of the museum, this design was very great, seems combined the modern and the classic. Also, it created a feeling of uncertain that attracted you to get inside and explore. First, I went to see the gallery. The paintings were very beautiful, but I don’t know much are the background and also the significant of the paintings. The paintings that I was more familiar were the ‘Mona Lisa Smile’, and also a picture that had a woman who represented the French Revolution. Fortunately, Karin, Beatrice and Eva had studied Fine Art, so they could tell me some background and the meaning of the paintings. Then, I went to saw the bedroom of Napoleon III and also the crown and also the paintings about the French kings. Finally, I went to see the exhibition about Egypt, I think the things inside was very similar to the Pegamon museum. Finally, I went to see the La Victoire de Samothrace, though it was broken, we could still see that it was a great sculpture. Then, I went out to our gathering place, but I went to the wrong place, so I was late for fifteen minutes, I was quite embarrass.

Then, we went to have lunch, and then we went to La Cathedrale Notre Dame, which was located on the island inside Paris. It was white in color in its outer layer. The first impression was that it was beautiful, but was not so big. Because there were too many people queuing, therefore, we give up to enter in it and just took some photos before it.

Then, we went to the Military Museum. This museum had collected the weapons from the medieval to modern. We could see suits of armory of Europe, China and Japan and also the weapon they used. A question suddenly came across my mind, why this museum has collections from Japan. I think that it may be during the Meiji modernization, Japanese reformed their army in French style, and then French could get these things from Japan. The exhibitions of this museum were divided in to different period, so it was quite easy for us to see the development and change of the weapon throughout the history. Then, we went to see the mausoleum of Napoleon. The mausoleum was quite big, there was a round hole and the coffin was put at the middle of this hole. A great person in French history, nearly conquer the whole Europe, but after his death, the place he had was just this mausoleum.

Entrance

At night, we went to the Moulin Rouge where was a very famous place in France. There were many dance halls in this street, and many celebrities came here for entertainment. There was a windmill, which was a landmark of the region. Now, there were still many dancing hall there, but seemed no prosperous as the past. We had went into a dance hall, and then we went back to dorm.