A visit to the once in a lifetime Leonardo Exhibition in Le Louvre, Paris

In 2020, just a couple of weeks before COVID-19 closed Europe down, I had the privilege of visiting Paris to view the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition. This is how it went.

After a pleasant rail journey from Yorkshire to Paris via London we settled into our rooms in the comfortable hotel Le Saint Gregoire near Montparnasse.

We ate in Montparnasse at an Italian restaurant called Terra Mia, which was recommended to us.

The next day we visited the Musee d'Orsay.

Right away I liked the paintings of the Symbolists, a group of painters about whom I know little. I plan to learn a lot more about them. I was struck by the beauty and artistry of the painting above.

Of course the major attraction of the Musee d'Orsay is it's collection of art from between the era of Ingres to the post impressionists. This collection does not disappoint.

After all that art we visited a café - the famous Café de Flora as frequented by Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Good coffee.

Finally in the evening a trip to a Parisian vegetarian restaurant called Apeti. In Paris one simply has to sample the food at any opportunity.

The real reason for my trip to Paris is to see the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition. This is a once in a lifetime event.

In addition to paintings by the maestro there were also many examples of his drawings. In an age before science as we know it, Leonardo was curious about nature and science and expressed this in his drawings.

The exhibition did not disappoint. But then Leonardo never does. After viewing the Leonardos we were free to enjoy the rest of the Louvre collections. Which also did not disappoint.