Originally Adam had this whole blog written out but he accidentally deleted it and was very angry, so, lucky for you, I decided to step in.
Since this was our last day we took our time in the morning, enjoying our croissants and coffee while getting ready to visit Notre Dame and the Lourve.
Norte Dame is a short five minute walk from our apartment so we went there first. It was very beautiful inside and I told Adam the story of the hunchback as we walked through (special thanks to Walt Disney). It felt a little weird to walk through because there was a funeral mass occurring at the same time. But I'm sure tourists are part of the deal when you have a service there.
Next we walked down Rue de Rivoli toward the Lourve. We were happily held up several times by shopping trips in stores along the street such as Mango, H&M and other foreign stores I forget the name of because I didn't buy anything there.
We finally got to the Lourve around 12:30. We took some classic pictures pretending to have your finger on the point of the Lourve pyramids. Then we headed to the "secret" entrance our walking tour guide told us about. However, we seemed to have chosen to use that entrance on a day it was randomly closed. So we headed back to the looong line out front that told us it would be an hour wait to get in. It did move pretty quickly and we had gotten our tickets and ate a fast lunch by 2. Then we bee lined for the Mona Lisa. Actually all the signs said "Monna Lisa" so I'm not sure which is right anymore!
Of course, there were several dozen people crowded around the painting when we got there. Adam is in charge of our pictures so he made his way to the front while I hid safely on the side where I had a good view but without all the tourists jostling me about.
Then we battled the next crowd: tourists seeking the Venus de Milo, the second most popular piece of art at the Lourve. Again Adam moved in for a good picture while I found a bench and admired from afar.
We saw some other pieces in between but we were all pretty tired from the crowd and it was difficult to enjoy the museum to its fullest, so we called it and went for coffee and sodas.
Next we took the Metro to the Arc d'Triomphe to meet Chris's work colleague who works in the France office. He and his wife took us out to dinner on Champs Élysées. It was great having French speakers with us at dinner so we didn't look like deer in headlights from the moment the waitress says "Bonjour."
After dinner Adam and I went to check out the Le Marais area. Most shops were closed so we relaxed in park for a bit before walking back to the apartment. We got our final crepes and packed all our stuff up for the long (but hopefully punctual) trip home.
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