and on the 7th day

St. John's brought us to the Louvre!

And I wrote a whole post about it and it got deleted............

Da Vinci Code anyone?

I guess what happens in the Louvre stays in the Louvre. They do not want their inner secrets out of the bag. You may be wondering, "is Mary Magdalen really under the pyramid?"

The truth of the matter is, I haven't the slightest idea.

In all honesty, we went into the trip as a group. First stupid idea. A bunch of Americans on a French metro? The product is annoyed French people and loud obnoxious confusion from us. I literally saw an old French woman nodding toward us until her friend actually acknowledged that we were being pointed out. THANKS. I know I'm American, I'm trying to blend in, please excuse my rowdy counterparts who don't know how to hold their liquor nor hold their composure around "foreigners" in their native land.

I digress.

Let me discuss the Louvre before I discuss Parisian sangria.

Just imagine this is your backyard.

LE LOUVRE: A palace turned museum of art in which people depict historical scenes magnificently as if they were there, though they were not.

That is the full definition.

I learned a lot about the paintings inside the Louvre, specifically those of David.

DAH-VEED, not Dave-id.

A lot of it goes back to the time in which art was expected to depict powerful people in monumental moments and the art was meant to be realistic. You were supposed to be able to look at it and feel as thought you were incorporated into. And so you can... The work is incredible. Detailed. Life size.

After my well-versed professor completed our exploration of 19th century paintings, I went off to explore Le Louvre in my own way. Yes, he continued to explain the way in which the light and color contrasted or worked in unison to create a certain blah blah blah....

I took it upon myself to decide which portions of the room-sized paintings I found most interesting.

Without further adieu (on some French shit...) I present thou with 

Le Louvre du De Vincenzo!

I don't know why I became instantly obsessed with this sculpture, but it is completely apparent that I am not the only one.

Gerard Butler circa 2007 or illustration by David circa 1814: Leonidas is still a magnifique piece of man meat.

In the complete painting, a son's conspiring ways has led him to be killed,
  by his own father's betrayal. What a jerk. The painting comes together by the
grieving mother and unbearably shattered wife in the corner.
This is what I refer to as the beautiful breakdown.

In this we have a clear depiction of a woman demanding "Guys, just stop," where the children show
signs of imitating their fathers, setting the scene for a second, vengeful saga.

At a closer look, we see more intimacy through a woman imploring her husband to
chill the f*** out for the sake of their child.

I also found it more intriguing to watch how others identify with the paintings
rather than just rely on myself to find the true meaning behind them.

The true meaning I saw through this one, however, was that it was painted for Avery Mertz.
Your two favorite things girl: a cat and wine.

And finally: there she is!

Though I was forewarned of disappointment, something about standing here still creates an air of incredulity.

I'm not done with you, Louvre. I just got so hungry that I had to go back to campus to eat dinner. But within a week's time, I'll be back and my followers will be waiting with baited breath for more paintings.