The Louvre and the Petit Palais

Saturday 12/29/2018
The Louvre and the Petit Palais

The nightclub on the barge across the river from our hotel parties all night long - all the way through 8am. We did not get much rest. After another 30 euro breakfast, we walked up to the subway station for a taxi to the Louvre. It was a good weather day and there was a long, long line waiting to get into the Louvre. Luckily, I knew about the secret entrance on the side. We walked over to the side entrance. Momma and Troy and Kayla doubted me, but there was an open door and no wait when we got there. It was incredible! If you are facing the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel with the Pyramids behind you, walk past the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel to the far left buildings of the Louvre - Easy Entrance! Tell them Noah sent you!

We did not see even a quarter of the Louvre, but we did see the Mona Lisa (we could not believe that the museum does not control traffic flow in that room), the Winged Victory of Samothrace. the Venus di Milo, the glass pyramids (on the way out) and a lot of other great art from around the world. I saw Beyonce's video only after I got back to the United States. Watch it below. We did get lost a couple of times in the Louvre. It is a HUGE place with multiple levels (and probably multiple dimensions - at least that is how I felt towards the end). For a quieter experience, stop by Artworks Studio & Gallery on Perdido Key.

After leaving the Louvre, we ate lunch on the sidewalk at a bistro a block to the north (Cafe RUC). It was a little cool outside, but we did not mind that terribly much. Then we walked back to the park on the west end of the Louvre (Jardin des Tuileries), stopped at a snack shop in the park, sat in the green lounge chairs around one of the park fountains and also on the Terrasse de l'Orangerie looking over the Place de la Concorde and then walked to the Grand Palace which is an ice skating rink with a glass roof. We had no tickets to the Grand Palace so went into the museum across the street, the Petite Palais, instead which was very nice and we stayed there till closing. After leaving that museum, we watched the Eiffel Tower light show on the river on the north end of the Pont Alexandre III. A bride was having her wedding photos taken across the street from us. It was pretty chilly for all of us, especially for the bride, I'm sure. We took a taxi back to Notre Dame so that we could walk the narrow streets across the river from the cathedral. We found a very good restaurant (Cafe Le Dante) on the corner of the intersection of Rue Dante and Rue Galande.

After dinner, we walked the narrow streets which were lined with shops, restaurants, bars and bakeries. We stopped at two bakeries. Then we taxied back to the hotel. Those narrow, cobblestone streets seemed like old Paris to us. Sure, it may just be the tourist section of town now; but it felt pretty authentic.