Yep. I decided to head to the Louvre today. No doubt about it, it's an amazing museum. I headed for the antiquities first. What can I say. I love context, and chronological order helps a lot.
- Some of the earliest sculptures of humans, about four thousand years old
- Some of the earliest trinkets designed by humans, about six thousand years old. There was a wall of arrowheads that were probably much older (like over a hundred thousand years old), but I draw the line at arrowheads. They're just dull. It seems like everyone draws a line somewhere though because the antiquities never seem to be as crowded as the more modern works (with a few notable exceptions).
- Venus de Milo
- Winged Victory of Samothrace
- Mona Lisa
- Two of Michaelangelo's slave sculptures one of which was the basis for a sculpture by... Rodin! It's cool to enter a room in a museum and know the author and name of a sculpture you've never seen before. :)
- Lots of cool stuff by societies I'd barely heard of before. Palmyrans, anyone? I hope I can remember the captions for all my pictures!
- Cool stuff from Iran well before it was Iran.
- Plenty of Egyptian stuff. Too much in some cases.
- A quick trip through the current special exhibit about France during the Roman years. There was some interesting stuff there, but for me the best part was that I was only allowed in by mistake. I didn't have to pay to see it. :) There was an interesting column head there with some dragons on it. It got me to wondering when dragons were invented. There are chimera and sphinxes early on, but dragons don't seem to have shown up until the middle ages. Now I have to go on a quest to find the first Burninator!
I also filled up my first memory card. That's 2/5ths memory used in the first 1/5th of the trip. I think I may have underestimated my camera needs. I think we'll have to figure out how the whole general post thing works so you can send my memory cards back, mom. (You can buy a $20 device to transfer the current contents by USB to your PC first. I'll pay you back.)
Okay. This hostel PC has eaten all my coins, so I'll catch up with you all tomorrow sometime. Be well.
7 comments:
Hi Blain,
Yea, I know it's been 18 days before I managed to place a post.
So, as far as the financial stuff goes, you got a whole lot of checks coming in. I'll Give you the totals.
State taxes - $141
Security Deposit - $25
Last Paycheck - $950
City of Roseville - $57
So congrats, you made $1200 since you started your vacation. Not too bad. As your financial advisor, I approve. Let me know if you need or want me to do anything with the checks. Also, you only had one bill due, and that was for $10, so don't worry about that one. Also, your credit card statement came in and said you owed some funds, but I am willing to bet that you are taking care of that online. Let me know if you need anything on that front.
Sounds like your trip is going quite well. Remember, if you ever make it to Ireland, bring me back a redhead!
As for me, life continues as normal. Looking forward to getting done with school on May 18!
So, where is the next destination?
Hi Blain,
I'll be happy to take care of the camera memory. Just send it home and let me know where to return it. Do I need to know how to write "General Delivery" in another language? I'm sure I can find out how on the Internet!
I Louvre you too! Sounds like fun stuff!
Thanks for the info on your new hostel. It seems to be better than most hotels in the amenities it has available that you'd really use.
I just read Wayne's post. You mean we cleaned that apartment for $25!? Is that right or do they owe you more? If you want me to contact them about that, let me know.
I talked to Glenn last night. He and Kelly have a new house. It's still in south Sacramento but he says it's a better area. They're renting it back to the current owners until they find some place to move to but they have to be out by July 15.
A bientôt, Mom
Hi Blain,
This is Marjan. I finally got around to check your blog again. You're definitely having an exploratory trip of a life time, don't you? :-)
We'll see if get to meet in Europe:-) After taking the VSI, I've been applying for jobs all week long. We'll see if I get lucky...
Have fun!
Craig:
There is so much more to see at the Louvre than I could ever relate. But you'll see more about that in my next post.
Travelling.
Son
No worries Wayne. I actually looked up the Neushwanstein (or however you spell that). I don't know if I'll go or not, but it certainly sounds like a sight. One of the gals from Friend's Hostel has been there by now.
Thanks for the financial update. The credit card bills are taken care of.
I didn't really have anything I wanted to see in Ireland, but I did send you home a souvenier refrigerator magnet in the package mom got. You'll never guess where I got it, or what it says. :)
Ah yes. The next destination. I'll post it in the next update.
Hi mom!
My bag is locked up back at the hostel, so I don't have the instructions for general post in front of me. I don't remember it being very complicated though. Knowing where I'll be when it gets here is the trickier part. :)
Yeah, it does sound better, but it doesn't really feel better. I suppose part of that is that it's so big you don't really get to meet people. Most of them seem to be European teens or even younger. While my companions at the Friend's Hostel are going to Versailles, the group waiting for a bus outside of d'Artagnan were headed to (shudder) EuroDisney.
Regarding the $25, the security deposit was $200. They really should have explained what they used the money on in a note or something. Wayne?
Heh. I guess I'll be back in time to help Glenn move.
Cheers,
Blain
Hi Marjan. Sorry to hear about HP. I hope it will be better for you somewhere else, by which I mean somewhere else in the country in which you want to be. If you do end up somewhere in Europe while I'm still here, by all means, let me know. I have been told my Eurail pass lets me use the trains here like rented mules. :)
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