Rainy day at the Louvre

We headed out the door early this morning to be at the Louvre when they opened at 9:00 a.m.  We joined the line of ticket holders clutching their umbrellas and waited in the rain for about 5 minutes before being let in via the giant glass pyramid in the center plaza of the Louvre palace.

The one true thing I HAD to see at the Louvre was the statue depicting the Greek goddess Nike, known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace.  ">Here's a snipped of what Wikipedia has to say about the statue:  "The Nike of Samothrace, discovered in 1863, is estimated to have been created around 190 BC.  It was created to not only honor the goddess, Nike, but to honor a sea battle.  It conveys a sense of action and triumph as well as portraying artful flowing drapery through its features which the Greeks considered ideal beauty".
After first hearing about the statue in a college English course over 20 years ago (Professor Milton passionately spoke of it as one of the pinnacles of artistic expression) it did not disappoint.  Not only is the statue on display in an impressive space at the top of the stairs but the base of the statue resembles the bow of a ship, making the viewer imagine the crashing waves that have wet the goddess' flowing garments causing them to cling to her skin.  All of this movement, texture and transparency portrayed in marble - just incredible.

Next stop was Greek sculpture (aka the hall of Percy Jackson statues)!  Stunning and breathtaking - I really wished there weren't so many docents and/or guards around because you just want to reach out and touch the statues because they look so life-like.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Artemis, goddess of the hunt ( From Wikipedia:  She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and the protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.  The deer and the cypress were sacred to her).  And, she was a very important character in Percy Jackson Book Three:  The Titan's Curse!

 Artemis drawing an arrow.  To note:  Artemis' name in the world of Roman gods is Diana; in Spanish, a target is known as a 'diana' because of her association with archery.

And an appearance from Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods (and Luke's father from The Lightning Thief!)

And...we found Pan, Grover's search is over!

Cupid revives Psyche with his kiss - one of the most beautiful sculptures I have ever seen... 

And not to forget that the Louvre is actually a former palace - ridiculously opulent, but beautiful...

And lastly, we did manage to see the infamous Mona Lisa although we both said that the painting wasn't a must-see for us.

We saw many other historic, important, moving, famous, beautiful paintings today but decided to primarily post about the statues because they were so impressive, plus we had the added bonus of the Percy Jackson reference!