Mona Lisa...

When we left the Eiffel tower, we got on the metro for the first time to go to the Louvre. I don't remember if it was this time or the next, but there was a man singing "Yesterday"...and he knew none of the words, besides "Yes-ter-day"...and mumbled and made up the rest of the words. Then he walked around with a Dixie cup and for change. I really had to stifle a laugh at this guy.

Then at another time, there was a guy with a dog. (Again I don't remember if it was this time or not, but it was one of the first times on the Metro.) He had a German Shepard puppy under his seat, that he pulled out to hold like a baby after our first stop. Maybe this was on the same train ride. All I know is it was insane! And made me laugh many times.

Anywho...we got to the Louvre stop, and went inside to find someplace to get a drink, since that was my #1 problem on our trip was getting enough to drink. This got me into bathroom trouble more than once, when I would chug water when I found it...then had to go to the loo when I found it!

But, before we got a drink, we took a few photos...


and checked in with Steve through email...

This will go down as the most reliable wifi internet connection in all of Paris.

We stopped in Starbucks and got water, and sat down to chug and take my vitamins. We also filled out our Paris museum passes. We had to put our name and the date, since it was only a 2 day pass. This, in hindsight, was a mistake.

The reason it was such a mistake was at no point in the Louvre did anyone even look at our pass!! I think we could have gotten in absolutely free. It was really strange, but it made our passes unusable on the third day. C'est la vie! It seemed to be a recurring theme there...we paid for more than we needed to. Although, it did even out on the last day of Metro rides for free.

This one is a bit rambling isn't it? Let's just get to the photos!

Inside the Louvre...it was spectacular!






and crowded!!!


We wondered aloud several times if it was a free day, or school tour day. There were a ton of kids. I will say this, if this was normal for an afternoon in February, I would be scared to go in the height of tourist season!

This was Kris's favorite statue, the Nike Goddess...she's lovely standing up there!


We turned to walk through the hall and saw Jesus. Hello Jesus.


We were on a mission to see 2 ladies...because really, you can't see but a portion of this museum and see anything else in the city on the same trip. And you can't go to this museum and not see these two ladies.

The first...


I have always wanted to see her. I wanted to see if her eyes followed me. I couldn't get close enough to see. Next time, I will go as soon as they open so I can try to see. It was, of course, very crowded in this room. She's a famous lady.


This is the room we were in with Mona Lisa...check out the size of that painting!


We made our way out of that room into a room full of French art. That's when I saw these loverly ladies...


I liked everything about this painting! I named it sisters...although I have no clue what it really is about.

We walked through several more rooms and hallways until we met up with this goddess...


The Venus de Milo, the Greek goddess...


I tried to get a long-arm shot of me and Kris in front of the statue...but alas...I don't have long enough arms!


We wove our way back through a few more rooms, that I apparently didn't find impressive, because I have very few photos from inside the Louvre! But, you can click through the ones I did take on my flickr site.

We exited through the large pyramid...




and started our walk towards Notre Dame...that's the next post.