Day 18

Today with good weather forecasts and our feet a little rested we set off for the grand Jardin des Plantes, which houses plants from all around the world in one garden, and first opened to the public in 1640.  Anyone who enjoys gardening would go nuts here to see everything that they have.  Also on the grounds is the museum of evolution, an entomology museum, and a mini zoo.  We arrived about midday with a picnic in hand and walked through the "maze," portion of the gardens before finding a good bench to enjoy our salads, sandwiches, and snacks.  After that and amongst all of the groups of kids taking field trips to the gardens we were able to explore the entire grounds and take really awesome pictures of just some of the flowers that grow there.  The rose garden alone, has hundreds of different species of roses.  Please look at album four if you'd like to see any of the pictures, it is really hard to describe how neat it was to see all of these different plants just sort of lined up one right after the other.  The only things that were consistently not in bloom, were the irises, most of the kinds they had we had never heard of either.  

After exploring the rest of the gardens, encountering some frogs in little lily ponds and many bees who had no idea we were there, we left to catch a glimpse of the kangaroos, and head back to our apartment before we continued part two of three for our louvre night.  

This wing for the Louvre night was the smallest of the three, however it offers some of the more famous works of art and awesome rooms where these pieces are held, where the room itself is just as (if not more) impressive than the artwork it holds.  We began on the basement floor of the Denon wing and worked up to first see impressive sculptures and artifacts dating back to the dark ages, and progressively work up towards newer works of art.  Along the way we were able to see the famous Winged Victory, which happens to be one of our favourite sculptures/pieces in the entire museum.  We also saw Venus de Milo, who was thought to have been made around 100 BC.  Both of these statues are really awesome to see in person, and the last time we saw Venus de Milo she was in a different room, which made her seem really small and hard to get close to.  This time she was in her own smaller space but it allowed for better pictures, which made us appreciate her more this time than we had before.  Next we moved up to what Da Vinci's favourite painting and only portraiture, the Mona Lisa.  We were confused as we walked into the room because we saw a lot of camera flashes and people being able to take photos of the painting while the museum security stood close by but didn't try to stop anyone.  Last time, no one was allowed to take any kind of photo, flash or no flash, so this time we were happy to come back with proof that we had seen her haha.  The Mona Lisa is held in a room opposite of another famous painting which stands at about 20 feet by 40 feet, so it has always been funny to both of us that out of all of the extremely large paintings in the room, the smallest painting, the Mona Lisa, is the main attraction.  We continued through the rest of the Denon wing as the museum began to close and left a different way than we came, allowing Stephanie to grab more photos of the Winged Victory in all her glory (and luckily a few photos with no one else in the picture, and some right next to it for perspective).  

We had another awesome day and headed back to the apartment for dinner and to give our feet some much needed rest.  

- Kyle