Louvre & Paris Tour

Monday was another early morning. We grabbed breakfast at a local cafe—cappuccinos and chocolate bread! YUM!

Cappuccinos and chocolate breads!

We walked over to the Louvre for our 9:00 appointment time. It was really great to be there so early. We had a couple of rooms to ourselves which is unbelievable. We got to see all kinds of paintings and, of course, the Mona Lisa. She’s just a special the second time, I am happy to report.

A whole room to ourselves!

An English map!! It made the visit MUCH easier!

Jackson and I visited the Louvre earlier in the summer and missed getting a map in English which made navigation tricky during that trip!

I loved this ceiling

Liberty Leading the People

I just liked this one

MONA.

I liked the dogs in this one.

David with the Head of Goliath

We finished up at the Louvre and headed for Saint Chapelle. A gorgeous room made almost entirely stained glass. It was magnificent.

Magnificent. 

The room was an act of worship.

Then we strolled over and joined some new friends at the front of the line to get into the Notre Dame.

Notre Dame

Once we’d finished the morning tour, we grabbed another hop on/ hop off tour. This tour had a live guide in English and it was simply amazing. We rode for two hours without really noticing. I saw a ton of places I’d not seen before around the city and got some killer views of the Eiffel Tower, too.

Les Invalides where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried

Lunch in a cafe!

We eventually hopped off for lunch at a little cafe near the opera house. We then went on a second leg of the tour to see the other side of town.

Joan of Arc

We visited Sacre Couer—climbing to the top. It was quite warm out, around 95, so warmth plus the stairs meant Mom was huffing and puffing. The church and the views were worth her efforts, though.

We rode the buses until it was back to our neighborhood then hopped off for a little break. We were pretty sweaty and gross by then. After a little break and some washing up, we headed back out for shopping (their beauty supply stores are awesome), dinner (pizza) and a nighttime cruise down the Seine River.

We got on the boat at 21:45 which meant we were to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see its 22:00 light show. Amazing. We both absolutely loved it.

Isn't she lovely?!

It was a great day seeing ALL of Paris!!! The tour was certainly much better in Paris and I cannot recommend it enough!