Today was reserved for spending all the time we wanted at the Louvre. I have been there several times before, as had Jack, but we had always been in a limited time situation so this time was the first that we had the leisure to just explore and also know that we had the time to come back another day if we did not get our fill.
We took the metro there which turned out to be a bit of a hassle with negotiating the ticket machine and scurrying through the mazes of the tunnels towards our line and then changing trains just for one additional stop. We decided that walking would have been quicker and required less steps than the metro so that is how we would return.
The museum is always breathtaking. The buildings themselves, so gorgeous in their ancient French majesty with the startlingly modern glass pyramid entrance in the middle of that huge square, one never tires of it. We were lucky today, it being Monday and in September with the schoolchildren gone, there was a modest line to buy tickets and we were in.
We saw all the usual suspects, Mona Lisa et.al. but we also spent time today looking at lesser viewed exhibits such as African primitives and ancient enameling and pottery. We rented the audio players and they were nice to have to add background and interesting information about the exhibits we were viewing. We were there all day and we felt upon leaving that we had seen everything we were interested in.
A lovely walk back through the high price shopping areas, then the low rent district then back through the market street and to our apartment where we had a good rest for our weary feet before heading down the street for dinner. We had spotted a Vietnamese restaurant just a block or so away so we thought we’d give it a try. Jack had Pho and I had a tofu curry. The food was all vegetarian and vegan which we found interesting for a little hole in the wall place in Paris’ garment district. The menus were exclusively in French and the staff did not speak English so I had a good opportunity to practice my poor French and it actually went very well. I am getting more confident with each passing day and am not reverting to English even when I am spoken to in that language unless I really am unable to respond in French.
Lazy day tomorrow with laundry and some rest, we’ll see where that takes us!
I’ll see if I can get some pictures posted now…..
Adventures after Retirement 