PARIS, JOUR QUATRE

Thursday.  Day four.  Paris.

le Louvre

Since there were still a lot of things to check off on our list, we had to get serious on Thursday.  We got ourselves up and ready to go so we could leave straight from breakfast for the Louvre.  We had a list of specific areas in the Louvre that we had to see, that were mostly French painting, so we concentrated on those rooms.  I had already seen the Big 3 (Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo), so I was glad to have some direction as to what else is worth seeing.  The Mona Lisa is really underwhelming, so we decided not to even try and only ended up passing by Winged Victory.  Some of my favorite works of art that I saw were more of the École de Barbizon painters (like the little museum we went to in Barbizon).  After hitting up just about every room we had to see, we left the Louvre.  I think we left at just about the right time, because any more and I would have been ready for a nap.  The Louvre can be so exhausting.

Louvre, encore

We got outside by the pyramid, and Stephanie realized she didn’t have a memory card in her camera, and the rain had cleared, so I wanted to get sunglasses and drop off my raincoat at the hotel.  We took the metro back to the hotel, got our stuff, and then walked to Notre Dame to meet back up with Caroline, Ginny, and Caroline’s friend Lis.  We ate some street food out in front of Notre Dame, and then did a loop through the inside.  After having seen so many other cathedrals, this one didn’t seem all that spectacular in comparison, but I guess it is the Notre Dame de Paris.

Notre Dame de Paris

From there, we tried to go to Sainte Chapelle, but the line to get in was really long, and we still had a lot of things to check off the list.  Instead, we walked to Musée de Cluny to see the famous tapestry La Dame à la licorne aka The Lady and the Unicorn.  The rest of the museum didn’t really interest anyone, so we ran in to see the tapestry and walked on to the Jardin de Luxembourg.  The park was really pretty, and we were tired at that point, so we sat down to rest for a bit.  After the park, we walked to the Pantheon to see it from the outside and check it off the list.

le Jardin de Luxembourg

Pantheon

We had been walking a ton, so everyone was ready for a nap.  We took the metro back to the hotel, but I wasn’t really in the mood to hang out in the hotel, so I decided to wander around our neighborhood.  I bought a raspberry tart from a patisserie, sat on some steps to eat and write down what I had done so far that day, and then did a little shopping.  I found some cute boutiques but a lot of them were a little out of my price range, so I only ended up with a scarf.  It was just nice to kind of explore a little, rather than having a set destination. 

I went back to the hotel to just chill out for a little while, and once everyone woke up and decided to become real people again, we went to a bar I found on my walk.  It was a bar that specialized in tequila and Mexican beer, so we had margaritas and chips and salsa.  The salsa was so good, and I didn’t realize how much I had been missing Mexican food.  Little reminders of home always make everyone so happy.  From there, we walked back to the hotel, and the Seine is close by, so we went to just sit by the river.  It was a pretty low-key night, but I had so much fun.  Seriously, I LOVE Paris.