Notre Dame de Paris and Musee du Louvre

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Breakfast was typically French. Well, Damian's attempt at French - Crepes with fresh bananas and strawberries, caramel and cookies ice cream, and Nutella. Nutella is everywhere in Europe. It is like some sort of Euro Zone national food. Les enfants loved breakfast.

Damian had the Country Crisp cereal with Chocolat Noir (70% cacao). Yes, the French put chocolate in everything. Even cornflakes has chocolate curls in it. When you walk down the street you pass a Fromagerie, Boulangerie & Patisserie, Merchant du Vin, Boucher, Marche and an Atelier du Chocolat. All the major food groups are covered. No Gelati stores or people selling chestnuts on the street to be seen however.

The day was rainy and cold. No surprise, but that was ok because an indoor agenda was planned. We strolled over to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and, in the late afternoon, to the Musee du Louvre. Emily had to be convinced to go to the museum stating "I don't want to go to the Loo, its full of boring art stuff!"

In reality, both Notre Dame and Le Louvre were fantastic, interesting places that we all enjoyed, even Emily.

Notre Dame is a beautiful old cathedral that took over 240 years to build. They are doing much restoration work as part of the 850 year celebration.

Le Louvre is amazing and we didn't spend anywhere near enough time there. We focussed mainly on the Italian and French paintings and did a quick tour through the Greco, Roman and Etruscan antiquities.

We got the Audio guides, which were customised Nintendo 3DS consoles. Les enfants loved them, especially Emily, who decided that learning about the boring art stuff was fun after all.

We saw the essential stuff - Da Vinci's work including the Mona Lisa, David's paintings of Napolean and his propoganda, Paolo Veronese's Wedding Feast at Cana, and Venus De Milo. We especially enjoyed the audio guides explaining the paintings of Napolean and the stories behind them.

We have one more full day in Paris and we may need to go back to Le Louvre, there is too much to see.

Oh, and Nick lost another tooth today. That's three on this trip so far!

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Photos

Pyramide du Louvre
The controversial Pyramide du Louvre in the Cour Napoléon courtyard of the Palais du Louvre serves as the main entrance to the Musee du Louvre.

Hôtel De Ville
The Hôtel de Ville s the building housing the City of Paris's administration (City Hall).

Comments

[Theiry Beaumarchais]

Paris - the Queen of the Cities
Cher Beltrami, What a joy to hear your exploits in the amazing city of Paris. The cathedral is beautiful as you note, the Seine contains the most pure water in the world, the Louvre is the best place for the antiquities. Personally I am not sure about the Pyramid du Pei. On the other hand each generation must bequeath something amazing to its successors. Imagine if you can that there were people, our own beloved Guy de Maupassant included who hated the tour eiffel. Madness! Where to next mes amis? What will your next exploits be? Good health and fortune, yours sincerely, TB