Begin Paris!

Aug. 26 we arrived in Paris- after a quite early train.

Stashed our luggage and enjoyed some quality Parisian bakery.  I had an amazing bread that had nuts and olive oil in it.  We had some time to kill so we did a little wandering.  We visited Notre Dame, which was gorgeous.  Just did a cursory look though because we planned to return later.

This is a side of Notre Dame.

Checked into our rooms and headed to the Louvre!  The Louvre is beautiful inside and out.  Lovely gardens and green space outside.  Some quality architecture.  The inside is overwhelming.  I’m not much of an art expert- in fact I have very little contact or experience with artwork.  I found it very difficult to appreciate the Louvre.  After the first 20 min everything started to look the same to me.  I recognize that it takes skill and talent to create art and most pieces have a meaning behind them, but I just don’t find them fascinating.  It may have been better with a guide of some sort who could explain the art to me.  Maybe.  But now I can say I’ve seen the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory and a bunch of other famous art!  And I did appreciate the sunset we witnessed as we were leaving.

The outside of the Louvre!

This is how close to the Mona Lisa I was!

This a ceiling.  Awesome.  I really liked these.

Sunset at the Louvre.  Possibly the part I most enjoyed.

After the Louvre we did a little exploring, had some crepes, and made it back to the hotel.  Also of note- the weather in France was cool.  Much colder than any other point in our trip.  You'll notice our apparel change in the pictures.