How does one express their first impressions of this magnificent city? And during what a pitifully short time can one even say they’ve even experienced Paris? A day and a half is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, that is all I had for my first visit to Paris. And it was a glorious day and half–the weather perfect, the evening balmy. Strolling along the Seine, wandering the Tuileries Gardens, exploring a tiny bit of the Louvre’s astounding collections, confronting the mammoth magnificence of the Eiffel Tower and tasting a morsel of Paris’ famous cafes is about all one can manage.
Yet, due to the wealth of beauty and design, the images I found capture the iconic nature of this City of Light. Certainly there are cliche’s in the bunch, perhaps most of them. One can’t help but create clichés. Literally everything has been photographed 10,000 or 100,000 or even a million times over. But, I hope to have brought something from my unique, highly-honed perspective to the mix. And I can honestly say, my interpretation of La Gioconda, the Mona Lisa, you’ll find at the end of this post, truly captures a bit of the absurd frenzy surrounding this most iconic of paintings.
And finally, my interpretation of the Mona Lisa…
The Mona Lisa is absolutely THE must-see object in the Louvre. She’s on every tour groups itinerary. For those who have visited the gallery in which the Mona Lisa hangs, no words are necessary. To the uninitiated; after walking down a very long gallery past scores and scores of true, Renaissance masterpieces, you turn into another gallery packed with tourists from all over the world. People elbow their way through the throngs to get close enough to lift their cameras or phones above the heads and cameras of those in front, snap their picture and then elbow their way back out. Proof positive that they’ve been to Paris and “seen” the Mona Lisa. It was hilarious, beyond absurd.