The Louvre opens at 9:00am so we wanted to be in line by 8:30 so we left the hotel at 8 to take the metro to the museum. Five of us went minus the ones who were out partying the night before. When the Louvre opened we didn't have to wait long to get inside. It took 5-10 minutes.
The opening to the Louvre is under the glass pyramid. The Louvre is one of the world's largest museums and it houses nearly 35,000 objects from prehistoric to the 21st century.
As soon as we were inside the museum we grabbed a map and bee lined for the most known piece of art in the world the Mona Lisa. By going right to the painting we were able to get as close to the painting as they allow. I was surprised by how small it was but it was amazing no the less. After we saw the Mona Lisa we went back to the main area of the museum and got breakfast at the bakery inside. I got a croissant and Bill got a baguette sandwich with cheese and ham. Both were delicious and I know this because I finished his sandwich for him. After breakfast we started walking through the museum.
We saw Venus de Milo and many other great pieces of work. We walked around the museum for over an hour and half and didn't see everything in one wing. It is definitely a place that you have to spend all day in or go to multiple times. We had other things planned for the day so we had to get going. Bill and I will definitely be going back the next time we visit Paris.
La pyramide Inversée or the inverted pyramid inside the carrousel du Louvre shopping mall that is connected to the Louvre.
When we left the Louvre we decided to walk to our next destination which was Notre Dame cathedral. On our way to Notre Dame we walked across the Pont de I'Archevêché or lock bridge were couples go and lock a love lock to a bridge to symbolize their love for each other. Bill and I did not put a lock on the bridge.
It was about a 20 minute walk to Notre Dame cathedral When we got there we had a short wait in line to enter the cathedral where mass was going on. You can go in and walk around during mass but you have to be quiet while inside.
One of the famous Notre Dame gargoyles on the side of the building. After we left the cathedral we hopped back onto the metro and made our way to what Paris is known for.
The Eiffel Tower. I knew it was big but I had no concept of how big it actually is. We decided to take the lift to the top. The five of us waited in line and got our tickets you have to take two separate lifts to get to the top. We took the first lift to the second floor and I knew I couldn't go any higher. It was windy and rainy and I'm already terrified of heights. The second level is 390 feet off the ground. So I and one of the other guys who didn't want to go to the top stayed on the second floor while the others went to the top. The first floor has all of the restaurants and shops on it so we decided we would go and wait for them on the first floor so we got on the lift to go down. When the lift stopped on the first floor we were so jam packed into the lift and no one would move we couldn't get off to get onto the first floor so we ended up sitting under the tower in the rain waiting for the others to get done at the top.
Bill took this picture from the top of the tower looking down. He was 905 feet off the ground.
Bill and I infant of the Eiffel Tower it looks so small in pictures. You wouldn't believe how far away from it we were standing when we took this picture. After this because of how much it was raining and how wet and cold we were we decided to hop on the metro and go back to the hotel and order pizza. It was almost 3:00pm at this point and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We got back tot the hotel ordered the pizza and ate Linner (lunch/dinner) and hung out for a bit. When it gets dark they light the Eiffel Tower up and every hour on the hour for about 5 minutes they do a light show. Four of us decided to go and check it out. We got there right after the 8:00pm show ended so we had some time to kill till the 9pm show.
We decided to walk to see The Statue of Liberty that is in Paris. It didn't look like it would be that long of a walk but it took us 15 minutes both ways and we almost missed the 9 o'clock light show.
The Tower is beautiful when it is all lit up and the light show was great to. It wasn't very long and it only flashed but it was definitely worth seeing. After the light show we took some more full length shots of the tower and pictures of us in front of the tower then made our way back to the hotel. Bill decided to go to sleep but I stayed up to watch the super bowl with a few people. wasn't the best idea since it started at 12:30am and didn't end till after 4am. We were leaving the next day at 9:30am but had no plans before so we slept in a bit and then made our way back to Germany. One more place checked off my bucket list.
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