Today we made rue way to the Louvre. We came in from the Metro and wound around all the different stairways and escalators to be told we needed to enter from the pyramid outside with our museum passes. These passes are a must, by the way - you choose how many days you want it for 2, 4, or 6, and then you can get into all kinds of things and most importantly, skip the ever present lines- yessss! So it felt like a victory just to find the right entrance to the Louvre, and then we zipped past thousands of people with our lovely passes. The glass pyramid is not the best design either because it cooks you with all the glass. It's like a hot, really, really crowded greenhouse. Oh well! We wanted to be sure to see the Mona Lisa (along with half of the world), and I can't believe they don't have a better way to see her - like the moving walkway at the Crown Jewels in London or something. This being France, masses of people push and shove, and practically trample each other to get close enough to kind of see the painting. It's super hot in there, too. All around annoying, but still cool to see the iconic painting. We passed other Da Vinci's, Botticellis and Raphael's among others before making our way to the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace - that was probably my favorite thing because the fabric made of stone on the statue really did look like folds of fabric. It's pretty amazing. We saw the Egyptian section, and accidentally the Pacific Islands and African art section - lame. No wonder it's empty down there...ok, not at all pc, but so true. How many crudely carved wooden fertility idols do you want to see? Sorry, I'm a little down on the Louvre because while it has amazing treasures and is in a beautiful building, the layout and flow are so confusing and disjointed, and it's so warm in there that it wears you out.
By this point, the Louvre had conquered us. We barely made a dent in it, but we were pooped. We headed out in search of food and went to a nearby cafe before wandering back into the Tuilerie Gardens. The Orangerie museum was nearby, so with our museum passes, we popped in again (skipping long lines of people), and saw Monet's lovely Water Lilies, which was fun to do after having seen his gardens at Giverny. On the lower floor are some of my very favorite Renoirs (the cute sister helping the other one play the piano, and the little girl with messy hair playing with her toys), along with some other greats! So now we needed something light and fluffy for the kids. We hit the playground in the Tuileries and the fair, which has all kinds of carnival rides. Abby went on a crazy, speedy, spinning ride that she loved, so Zelle and Tugs decided to try it - they hated it. The rides were a fun way to end the day, though. We took the Metro home, and every time we ride it, Goose asks if we get to do one more train? She loves the metro and loved the tube. She loves when we switch lines and keep gng down there, and is always bummed when we're done - funny! We also heard this great guy playing his accordion down there tonight, and recognized the song as the Spanish sounding one Elise and Ali sed to play in their duets - awesome! Loved it. I got a few seconds of video of it for her, but should have gotten more. A lovely, tiring day :)
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