day 19 - the louvre.

Today, today was an epic day.
It was a day that we have been training for for weeks.
Today, we went to the giant of giants.
Today, we competed in the final round of an epic tournament.
Today, we conquered the olympics of museums.
Today...
...we went to the Louvre.

Here are some facts about the Louvre that you might enjoy:
- The Louvre is the most visited art museum and one of the largest museums in the world.
- Louis XIV used to ride his horses through the halls of the Louvre when it was the palace.
- The pyramid in the center of the Louvre was created to facilitate the large number of people going into the museum. It was controversial at first, but just like the Eiffel Tower, has become iconic to France.
- If you were to spend 30 seconds looking at each piece in the Louvre (and this doesn't count the time it takes to walk between pieces) it would take over 4 and a half weeks to see the entire museum. It's true, I just did the math.
- About 6 million people view the Mona Lisa held in the Louvre each year. It's currently in an enclosed space that's climate controlled behind bullet proof glass. The Mona Lisa has also been stolen twice and attacked multiple times.
- During WWII, the Louvre was almost entirely emptied and the artwork was hidden all over France to keep Hitler from confiscating it (like he had with so much of the artwork over Europe). Only the largest pieces were left behind. It's amazing to me the work and passion that went into preserving the historic artworks of the Louvre.

We had a late start today but were able to get stuff done before hitting up the beast of beasts. When we finally got to the Louvre, Mirielle, Tia and I teamed up. Our first mission was to find a map.
Check.
Our second mission was to plan the most efficient route possible through the museum to maximize the amount of works viewed.
Check.
Mission number 3: Assignments were then given to each team member to aide in efficiency.
Tia- "map goddess", responsibility: keep track of rooms viewed and location in museum.
Mirielle- "keeper of the arts", responsibility: mark rooms on the map with significant work to be revisited.
Me- "hero historian", responsibility: distinguish the style of the artwork based on the time period and stylistic techniques.
Check.
Time limits were then placed on viewing artworks.
Check.
With our team prepped and ready to win, we then set out to conquer the Louvre.
And my friends...
we conquered the Louvre.

Our reward for such hard work was enjoying the evening in front of the pyramid while the sun went down. Filming in the sunset, laughing, photography and enjoying the beautiful atmosphere and life of France. What a win :)