We knew that this would be a very long and tiring day. And after having a long day the day before we really tried to keep what we did simple. But there is just no way around it, you have to walk around the Louvre a lot!
We started out at the Galerie Vivienne which is like the first mall. It is a 19th century shopping structure that was covered so people could get out of the mud and muck of the streets. It was like the place to be seen. And it was gorgeous. I just wish more of the stores would have been open, or cooler that I would have wanted to shop there.
I love a good mosaic floor!
Isn't is charming? I could shop here all the time. I really wanted to get something special from here, but a lot of the their stores are closed on Mondays. We were also trying to kill some time so that we didn't go to the Louvre first thing in the morning when the lines are just insane. And I think it kinda worked because we walked right in to the Louvre. Galerie Vivienne was definitely off the beaten path and not something that everyone would see but I thought it was awesome.
Next it was off the to the Louvre. This selfie is from across the stress just to give you and idea of how massively massive it is. You can't even see either end.
We had a game plan of what we wanted to see and we still cut somethings off of our short list because it is just so big and crowded. But I think we saw most of what we wanted. This sculpture garden, a former royal garden was lovely.
They have restored some of the apartments of Napoleon III which is a shocking reminder that people used to live in the massively massive building. It seems impossible to live here but they did.
I do love Vermeer so I was excited when we found his.
The Venus de Milo.
The floors and ceilings were just amazing. Oh yeah and the art was gorgeous too. Since I had been there before it was all just for the experience but my mom was loving seeing all this art that she had studied.
This is the piece of art that is opposite the Mona Lisa which is why it is so crowded but it is hard capture that this painting is like 20 feet tall.
Of course the Mona Lisa is a highlight although I liked seeing the other paintings by da Vinci because you can actually see them.
The Coronation of Napoleon is such a great painting because there is so much history and story to it.
This is a favorite too because it reminds me of Les Miserables.
We were so hungry and tired so we ate lunch at the Louvre. But honestly how often do you get to say that? "Oh, we are just having lunch at the Louvre!" Here is my selfie where mom wasn't paying attention.
And with Jericca.
And this was our view!
After the Louvre we went down to the Carousel de Louvre and the gift shop but we couldn't find anything amazing to get as a souvenir.
Since we were close to Shakespeare Books we headed over there after the Louvre and we both got some books. On our way there we stopped for some ice cream. After Shakespeare books out feet we killing us. That Louvre is intense! But again it was kinda early so we went back to the Champs Elysees because I wanted to buy some souvenirs from Monoprix which is kinda like Target. I bought so much stuff! Like, I bought 15 fleur de sel which is their French salt to bring back for my friends. When we went home it was rush hour and so I had to stand on the metro with my gigantic bag, not to mention carrying it all the way back from the metro. I was sweating by the time we made it to the apartment and by bag was ripping in half but I made it!
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