Updated to add the fabulous restaurant we went to---this is why I try to take lots of photos; it really helps to jog my memory.
I'm still pretending that catching up is something that will actually happen (totally doable at the rate of two posts a month, right?), so here are pictures from our first day in Paris back in April.
We started off the day by taking the TGV Eurostar through the Chunnel. A bit anti-climatic after all of our underground train riding--no signs informing you "now you are entering the Chunnel." The boys spent the last two years ensuring that Dustin was well-educated on our train; we felt a little guilty taking such an exciting train ride without them.
And then we were in Paris! We dropped our bags at our hotel and headed off to Dustin's carefully chosen restaurant L'Atelier Etoile de Joel Robuchon, the chef who has the most Michelin star restaurants in the world. We went to his more casual bistro (only two Michelin stars) for a very delicious lunch, beautifully presented. A good introduction to French cuisine!
We then headed out to spend the rest of the day and evening at the Lourve since it had extended viewing hours on Fridays.
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| Still cold, but not as cold as London |
The Lourve was absolutely huge! Tons and tons of things to see and lots of space for displaying it. We did lots of walking!
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| Winged Victory |
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| Mona Lisa |
We studied the below painting last year in second grade (the past eight years of artist and picture studies and the kids' board books paid off! There were so many specific pieces of work that I enjoyed seeing on our trip.). This was hanging in a long, long hall of floor to ceiling paintings.
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| Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin on the Rocks |
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| Venus de Milo |
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| Assyrian Art |
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| Code of Hamurabi: note how not-crowded the background is--way to many other famous items to see! |
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| Monet |
We were just amazed at the wealth of items contained in the Lourve. So many spots were not crowded because there were simply too many other wonderful things to see in other places. You could be in a room entirely filled with Rembrandts and only share it with a few others--no need to patiently wait your turn to get to examine a piece more closely.
After learning that my attention span for a single location is longer than Dustin's (but Dustin has more stamina for going to multiple places in a row), we headed out to find an inexpensive cafe for dinner. That was a fail, so we stopped at a tiny grocery store and brought bread and cheese back to our room.
