The Louvre

While we were in Paris we had to go to the Louvre. We decided to hire a private guide. It was a little expensive, but totally worth it. We got to cut the long long long line and she gave us the highlights. They say it would take 3 years to see everything in the Louvre. We had three hours.

The pyramid entrance.


A replica of the original castle and the walls they discovered while excavating.


Some of the architectural details.


Statues including the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.


My favorite statue - Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss


The very best part of the Louvre was all of the paintings. I loved art history in school.


And even more paintings.


The painting.



In order to get close enough to the Mona Lisa, you had to enter a Rage Against the Machine-esque mosh pit. It was scary.

After we finished at the Louvre, we ate lunch in the Palais-Royal. No wonder people say the French don't like Americans. Their Palais-Royal is a beautiful garden with high-end stores and apartments. Our Palais Royal is a cheap discount store.




There was a fashion shoot going on while we were there. It was neither anyone famous nor a past winner of America's Next Top Model, so I lost interest pretty quickly.

We then went on a French Revolution walk and learned more about what led to the revolution. It was pretty interesting, but I chose the absolute wrong thing to wear. Jeans + black t-shirt + ballet flats is not appropriate for a three mile walk. I felt like I was on the Bataan Death March.




One of the highlights of the tour was getting to see the cafe where John Galliano let a whole bunch of Jewish slurs loose and ruined his career. Not good.




I really liked the Marais area of Paris or as I call it the Mar-Hey Girl Hey! since it is the gay district. There was some really good shopping and my favorite store, Sandro, was there.

Oh, and we learned how to use the metro. It wasn't scary at all and was the best way to get around. I wish we would have tried to figure it out earlier in our trip.