章 27: Visiting The Louvre
After they were satisfied going up and down the Eiffel Tower, saw Gustave Eiffel's secret apartment, on the top of the tower, and took so many photos, the group finally went to the Louvre Museum. Before entering the museum, they had lunch at a small restaurant.
The Louvre Museum held a massive collection of artworks and historical items from around the world. The students enthusiastically followed Mr. Rhieu and listened to his story about various parts of the museum that were so interesting.
They were amazed to see the collection of Egyptian mummies in the museum's west wing, then various famous artworks that they had only heard about by name or seen pictures on the internet.
Many students sighed in awe when they saw Mona Lisa directly. They had no idea that the painting turned out to be small and, at first glance, unattractive.
There were far more interesting paintings on display in the various wings walls of the Louvre Museum. Everything looked very impressive. Some paintings looked so realistic, like a portrait of living humans, and some were very large, hung from floor to ceiling.
A painting depicting the inauguration of one of the French monarchs looked so impressive. All the characters on the canvas were on life-size, and their faces looked so real like photographs. Everything was very similar to the original characters. In the 3x4 meter giant painting, there were more than 100 people.
"Jeez ... I can't imagine one hundred people standing still for hours so they could be painted properly," Stu said as he watched the large painting with interest. "I think the painter is very skilled. I prefer this large painting to Monalisa. I don't understand why Monalisa can become so famous."
Altair and Vega exchanged glances when they heard Stu mentioned the painting Mona Lisa. They knew that the Monalisa painting currently on display at the Louvre Museum was not the original one, but an imitation. Marion managed to exchange Monalisa for a fake one decades ago.
It was common for large museums to put fake paintings in the place of the original painting during the exhibition and keep the original artworks in a hidden location. This was the way to maintain the security of these very expensive artworks.
Marion, who was very skilled at infiltration, could find the secret place where the Mona Lisa painting was stored and steal it from there. In order not to arouse suspicion, she put a very similar in its place. Until today, the museum had not realized that the original painting had been exchanged.
Altair and Vega did not discuss the Mona Lisa painting nor show off their knowledge of various artworks in the Louvre Museum. Both were accustomed to always acting humble and not attracting the attention of their friends.
Once they were happy with the museum tour and took notes and discussed the contents, they finally returned to their hotel. Altair and Vega asked Mr. Rhieu for permission to skip dinner because they had made a dinner appointment with Nicolae, Marion, and JM.
Mr. Rhieu finally agreed after Nicolae called him to make sure that the two students didn't lie and just made excuses to wander by themselves. No matter what, as the teacher, he was fully responsible for the safety of his students while they were in France.
"All right, you may leave," said Mr. Rhieu when they arrived at the lobby. "Don't stay up too late. You have to rest well. Tomorrow we will travel quite far to Versailles and visit the palace. It is massive and the garden is also huge. You will be tired."
"Yes, Sir," said Altair, winking. Of course, he knew how big the palace of Versailles was. His grandfather lived there for several years as the guest of Louis XIV before the French revolution and had shared his experiences while staying there.
The twins happily took a taxi back to the Nobel Hotel. JM and her mother still hadn't arrived from the photoshoot, but Nicolae was already waiting for them both on the top floor. The twins' grandfather, Caspar Schneider, told the man to occupy his penthouse at the Nobel Hotel while he was supervising the twins in Paris.
Caspar had considered the young man like his own son. Not only because he used to be Aleksis' boyfriend in the past, but also because Nicolae was Elios' older brother. Elios was his son-in-law. Caspar always made a big deal out of it when he heard that Nicolae would come to Paris and not stay in his property.
"Hey ... welcome," Nicolae said happily as he opened the door to the penthouse to welcome his two children. "Please come in. I really miss you, Guys. "
Vega and Altair hugged him alternately. The two then looked around at the whole penthouse and laughed at their very small standard room in the Amaryllis Hotel.
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