Paris-Three Major Sites

There is plenty to see in Paris and today we tackled three big ones: the Arc de Triomphe, Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. We expected today to be rainy, but we caught a little break and decided to hurry and see a few outdoor locations. 

First was a stop along the Champs de Elysses and a walk to the Arc de Triumph. This area is familiar to anyone who has ever watched the last stage of the Tour de France. It's also a very upscale part of the city with lots of fancy places to shop. I was freezing so we made a quick stop at the Gap for a sweatshirt. (I know, the Gap!?!)  

The Arc de Tripmphe was built to honor those who fought for France. This amazing photo shows some of their names, engraved on the arch. 

Thanks to our handy Paris Museum Pass we were able to go to the top where there are incredible views of the city. 

  

   The rain started so we went to the Louvre. Above that door, I swear it says Louvre. 

Here's more of the building, including the I.M. Pei glass pyramid. 

At the Musee d'Orsay, the audio tour was on an iPod. The Louvre uses a 3-DS. We didn't do the audio tour but I took a picture because I thought the boys would be impressed. They weren't.

I have never been to the Louvre, but to be honest, I was a little burned out on museums. We used a Rick Steves' guidebook to navigate ourselves around to some of the major works of art. 

Venus de Milo:

Gallery of Statues:

Winged Victory of Samothrace:

Mona Lisa

Anti-climatic?-Yes!

Michelangelo's Slaves

Not identified in Rick's tour- cool ceiling

and neat hallway. 

We spent several hours at the museum and didn't even see half of it, but oh well. I guess that's a reason to go back to Paris. 

The weather was better so we went to the Eiffel Tower. This far anyway. We weren't really feeling like waiting in a long line and paying the money to go to the top. 

We missed out on pastries yesterday so we made up for it today. I actually picked out that little mouse to eat. And it was by far the best of them all.