Paris Day 1- The Louvre

We landed in Paris, waited in a huge mass of people to have our passports checked, grabbed our bags and headed to the RER (trains) unfortunately the path to the trains was being blocked and pushed back by Police oh and wait armed military join in to block our path.  Time to use our limited French.  Ok really no French par le vous angles?  We ended up finding our way and bought tickets.  We found our lovely little hotel very easily.  We quickly got a quick shower and were on our way to the Louvre.  I had a nice chocolate croissant in front of the Louvre.  Inside I discovered a Starbucks but didn't partake until a later day.  After several language barriers we bought Paris Museum Passes and entered the Louvre.  SO MUCH TO SEE!  There was the Mona Lisa

Really a disappointment.  Its size was small compared to what you would think it would be.  Like the glare in my photo?  So many people viewing it I didn't feel like jockeying for a center position so I shot from the side.  It is impressive but small.  There are a ton of paintings and sculptures we took pics of but I won't bore you with those until I see you in person :)  Here is a silly one of me and some thing or other from ancient Iraq.  Hey I had to do something funny because my feet were KILLING me!  I don't care what the French think I should have worn tennis shoes!


Here is John in front of some Babylonian sculptures.  Pretty impressive.  

After the Louvre we walked all the way back to our hotel.  We came back to our room and changed our shoes and headed to Cafe du March for dinner.  After dinner we grabbed a crepe 

on Rue Cler and walked to the Eiffel Tower.  It was evening and we just walked around enjoying the light show and marveling at the enormity of the tower.  We headed back to the hotel once more removed our shoes off our aching feet and tucked them into bed, groaning like 80 year old men at how our bodies ached from all the walking.