Late at night. December. Butt-cold. More fun than I dreamed possible. It was a night that spanned snow, ice, 8 miles on foot, cognac and chocolate on the Champs Elysees at 2 a.m. and sights that defied both gravity and belief. It was... pure magic.
Louis XIV (1638-1715) ruled France for 72 years. He was the Sun King. That's the longest reign of any French or other European monarch in history, I'm told. During which time he extended the reach de France into the Americas, Africa and India. Busy guy. About this statue. Although he commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sculpt it, when it was finally delivered five years after Bernini died, Louis hated it so much he was going to destroy the thing. Someone must have talked him out of it, because instead he had it sent to the far end of the garden... with his likeness removed. Picky, picky. Only in modern times was it recast and brought out for the world to see again. I didn't know Louis, but I liked his statue.
It's known as the "Clock Pavilion", for obvious reasons. And it was like a little time portal. This wing of the Louvre Sully was built between 1624 and 1654 under King Louis XIV. However, the original fortress foundation - circa the late 12th century lies below. History lives here. It lives and breathes here. As I stood there imagining the likes of Napoleon, Catherine de Medici, Louis XIV, Henry IV and others gadding about in this place - designing, building, adding onto this place, all the while plotting, planning, loving, warring, doing all that stuff called life in their world... it felt like time was folding. Becoming now... and then... at once. I kept feeling like I could almost see them... right there... out of the corner of my eye.
