Friday, January 28, 2005

Coded DaVinci

Guess where I was today. Yep. The Louvre.

We had our Friday walking tour on the DaVinci Code (DVC) at the Louvre. Although it took the Louvre a while to warm to the idea, the powers that be now realize DVC is fantastic publicity. Apparently, last year 6.5 million people visited the Louvre -- the largest number ever. A large part of those visitors came because they had read the DVC, or at least that is what the Louvre has surmised. Of course, you know they will begin filming for DVC in May.

Since they know DVC is a moneymaker, the Louvre has used a tour company, Paris Avec Vous, for these tours when VIPs are in town and want to view all the hot spots in Dan Brown's novel. This tour company is the same one we use for our Friday walking tours... so we got our very own DVC tour today.

First let me tell you what you may already know... that Audrey Tatou is going to be the female lead in the DVC movie. Also, the Louvre will use Ms Tatou as their cover girl for a big advertising blitz they plan in a couple of months. So you'll be seeing a lot more of this French actress in the months to come.

I enjoyed the DVC and was happy to take the tour today. I think there is something to be said about 'historical fiction.' You may not learn all the accurate facts about an issue, but I think it makes you want to learn more about the subject. Over here in Paris, one of the recommendations I always make at the Bloom conference is the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy (although Amazon lists four books?). I read them 4 years ago and they got me very interested in French History, which has been my reading focus since I've lived here. Today a friend was telling me he is reading the trilogy and wants to read a book about Napoleon next. See what I mean?

Anyway, the tour allowed us to look at many of the works of DaVinci (5 of 15 of his paintings are in the Louvre), the much talked about meridian medallions (15 in and around the Louvre out of 135 in Paris), Caravaggio paintings (the one that the curator pulls down from the wall before he dies) and lots of pyramids -- inverted and otherwise.


If you liked the book and plan to go to the Louvre, this tour is a great way to spend 2 hours. After our tour we did some shopping... after all the sales are on for at least another week. This is the time for some really good deals and the Louvre Carousel has some great stores: Bodum, Nature et Decouvertes, Swatch, Résonances, Bernardaud, Loisirs et Création (an arts and crafts store) and Occitane.

My view on the way to catch the bus home...taken at Place de la Concorde.


-- said Auntie M in Paris
11:10 PM

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