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And now to lighten things back up. We were pretty exhausted after our trip to Normandy. We had originally intended to take another day trip away from the city and go to Versailles, but we just couldn’t get ourselves together. Back-up plan, the Louvre. (Aren’t we fancy that our back-up plan is “just” The Louvre. OO La La!) We received some great advice and purchased our tickets outside of the museum. This allowed for us to skip the VERY long security line. Bonus!
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It’s well known that there is a great divide in people’s opinions of The Pyramid and I get it. It really is the only modern structure in the city and it is SOOOOOO dramatically different than it’s surroundings. BUT, from inside, that glass pyramid lets a whole lotta light into the museum, which I found quite refreshing. And it made for some cool photo ops as well.
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The museum is, in a word, overwhelming. I read an interesting fact; if you spent 30 seconds with each piece in the museum, it would take you 100 days to see everything. And you better bring some bread crumbs to find your way back, ‘cause this place is HUGE! As you already know about me, I get caught up in the architecture. As I toured through the museum, I couldn’t help but marvel that it was once a royal palace; aka a house! People lived in it! Clearly, I’m still thrown.
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We did not stay very long in the grand scheme of things. We walked though the sculptures gallery and then worked our way to see the Mona Lisa. I didn’t think we were going to try to see it, but you kinda have to, right?
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As most are aware, the Mona Lisa is not as big as one might think, and it’s covered by bulletproof glass. To get close enough to get a photo of it, you must endure a mass of humanity. And at my height (or lack there of), it was more a sea of elbows and armpits and their accompanying aromas and rude manners. (I seriously don’t know how my daughter survived it.) BUT WE MADE IT! Got close enough to snap a pic and fought our way back out to freedom (and fresh air).
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For me, it was just enough to take in the structure itself. The palace was oozing with elaborate columns, ceilings, and adornments. It was breathtaking. I’m glad we made a visit for some culture, but we had equal amounts of fun in the cool shops in the interior promenade that lead to the Metro.
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The combination of our late start for the day, and our time in The Louvre, and it was time to find a place for dinner. We opted to go back to our “neighborhood” for a bite and then call it a day. Unfortunately, being off of the Champs Elysees, the restaurants were very international. Not much in the way of traditional French food. Plus, traveling with the younger palates that we were with, narrowed our choices, so we found ourselves having Mexican for dinner. Yeah, you heard me. Ole!
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1 The Pyramid at The Louvre
2 The underside of the Pyramid
3 Some charm of the original palace
4 A glimpse of the sculpture gallery
5 The Mona Lisa
6 One of the elaborate ceilings in The Louvre
7 Pylones
