Final Day in Paris!

Today was our final full-day in Paris. Up first, the Louvre. This world-renowned museum holds some of the world's most precious art and sculpture treasures. It started as a royal fortress and was eventually turned into the museum. The building is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! But it is also HUMONGOUS. It is impossible to see everything in this museum (and that is no exaggeration!) Neither Jim nor I are very big "art people" so we didn't have a long list of must-sees. But we did of course want to see the famed Mona Lisa (much smaller than we thought---and behind an obscene amount of bullet proof glass), Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and a few others. It was quite easy to find our must-sees because they were everybody else's must-sees and there were bazillions of people around the big attractions. I don't know how many people were at the Louvre today but holy cow, it was impossible not to run into people everywhere you went! Not only that, but it was SO hot inside. I was getting super overheated and eventually said LET'S GET OUT OF HERE! after just an hour or two. The Louvre usually has long, long, long lines but thanks to my mounds of research before we left, we used an entrance that is not so widely known and were able to bypass almost all of the lines. That was great! Attached to the Louvre is somewhat of a shopping mall....not really a mall per say but a few stores so I did stop in and buy some shorts for the day since it was so warm! We ate a quick lunch at the mall and headed to our next adventure.

The Palace of Versailles began as Louis XIII's hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682. Each of the three French kings who lived here until the French Revolution added improvements to make it more beautiful. This palace was, by far, the most opulent and over-the-top, we have seen. There was gold EVERYWHERE and it was jaw-droppingly huge. We also were lucky enough to be there when they run the fountains in the gardens. Because of the huge cost associated with running the fountains, they are only used on Saturdays and Sundays for a few hours each day. The gardens were phenomenal. They are filled with statues, fountains, flowers, paths, etc. Many of the paths reminded me of the book, The Secret Garden. So beautiful. Also on the grounds are The Grand Trianon which was built to escape the pomp and rigid formality of the main palace. And also on the grounds is Marie Antoinette's Estate where she could get away from the pomp of Versailles as well. We were completely wore out after the Palace and Gardens that we did not go to the Trianon or Marie Antoinette's Estate so I can't speak about them, but if they are anything like the main Palace I am sure they were grand and amazing as well.

We headed back into Paris and stopped by a supermarket to get some sandwiches and food for a picnic on our balcony at the apartment. It was very relaxing gave us a chance to just enjoy some quietness in the midst of Paris for a bit! :)