Paris day 5

Have you ever been to the Louvre? IT'S ENORMOUS! Through a fluke of timing, we managed to get to the entry line up a few minutes before opening, the plan being to head directly to the Mona Lisa (do not pass go, do not collect $200 meaning do not stop along the way, do not stop to appreciate all the other magnificent art en route to La Jaconde). The building itself is magnificent, so even if all you did was wander around gazing at the ceilings, you wouldn't be disappointed. We found her - the Mona Lisa. We also found the Venus de Milo, that portrait of Louis XIV that's in all the Canadian grade 7 history textbooks, and lots of lovely paintings (title of one of my favourites, mostly because of the title: Battle of Chastity over Love). This photo is from the section of the museum called the Napoleon III apartments. This is the salon, or living room. It looks over the Jardin des Tuileries which leads onto Place de la Concorde and up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe. We spent 3 hours oo-ing and ah-ing over Egyptian sphinxes and 5000 year old stone fish. What really amazed me, I guess, is that this stuff is so old, and that somebody had the foresight to hang onto it so that people like me could gawp at it 100s (1000s?) of years later.

For lunch, we found a very busy brasserie for our now standard croque monsieur lunch, then headed back to the hotel and off to the airport.

I asked everyone about their favourite moments or memories. Elizabeth's was her birthday dinner at the Eiffel Tower. Andrew liked climbing to the top of Notre Dame. My dad's was "reconnecting with Sacre Coeur". Mom's was being on the Champs Elysees at the moment when they switched on the Christmas lights on the trees. Peter's was the Eiffel Tower, although he kind of liked everything. My favourite day was Day 1, when we finally got to the hotel, and Andrew's reaction to my mom's appearance like of course she should be there, then wandering around to Notre Dame and the Arc and the Champs Elysees and our perfect dinner across the river from Notre Dame.

Au revoir, Paris, mais pas adieu.