Wednesday we went to the Louvre - and spent all day there! There is so much to see there! It's unreal! 

Here's what Dave wrote:

The Louvre has approximately 35,000 priceless masterpieces that would be the main attraction at most other museums.

The building dates back to 1190, when it was constructed as a fortress. Later it became a royal palace. Then, when the monarchy was over thrown, the people turned it into a Museum, which it has been since 1793.

The Mona Lisa is the most famous piece of art in the Louvre, and has it’s own bodyguards, and is covered by bullet proof glass. It’s also not that big, just 21 * 30 inches.

The buildings themselves cover about 15 acres. If all you wanted to do was walk the hallways, it would take you all day to walk them… if you didn’t stop to look at anything!

So that being said, we at least wanted to see the main attractions of the Louvre, and then spend quality time in the Near East and Egyptian sections.

We got the audio headsets and chose the one hour family tour of the highlights of the Louvre. 

Plato, Aristotle, Socrates

Venus de Milo

Venus de Milo in the background.

The goddess Diana, hunting.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace! This image doesn't do justice to the size and grandeur of this piece. It dates from 190 BC. Our older kids thought it was more impressive than some of the more famous masterpieces of the Louvre. The sculpture is of the Goddess Nike, and was probably carved to celebrate a great victory in battle.

France's crown jewels.

The Mona Lisa!

We loved this one.

The Coronation of Napoleon. This painting is HUGE!

We had lunch inside the Louvre at a cafe. We chose a sit-down cafe. The prices were not great, but we thought, oh well, it'll be good food, and it'll be nice to sit and rest for a while. Most of us ordered sandwiches, and when they brought them out they were just premade ones that you can buy at vending machines, still in the containers!!! What?! So much for a nice lunch! Note to self - next time just get them at the grab and go places. 

This is something to behold, the very top of a Babylonian pillar... that was originally 70 feet tall! Look how massive it is compared to the people. They estimate over 70 of these were in a once very grand hall.

Janae discovered the oldest known statue in the world, around a corner we weren’t heading down, that dates from 7000 BC! 

Half our group was done with it by dinner time, but Dave, Austin, Seth and Tyler went back after dinner and stayed until it closed at 9:30! The girl and I, Josh & Skyler ate together, and then I took Josh home because he had to turn in some school assignments. The others did some shopping, and then we all played games when they got home.

Donatello's "Mother and Child"

What a great, full day!

Tuesday was a little rainy. We spent the morning in the Musee D'Orsay which is a museum that was recommended to us by a few people. Amongst others artists, it has works by Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas and Rodin. We enjoyed it and spent a couple of hours or so in it. There was more to see, but some people had had enough. :)

Skyler acting like Skyler :) 

"The Gates of Hell"

Nice, Seth! 

After we were finished at the museum we went and got lunch at a little cafe. Then we walked to the street Champs Elysees, so we could do a little shopping, because on Monday we were in more of a hurry. We happened upon one of the "locks of love" bridges while we were walking. So naturally we took some kissing pictures. 

I went into Pandora and got a charm for my bracelet. Most of the guys went into the Peugot car store and got a demo of this car (below) that's worth 3 million, and was built as an audio experiment.

Brooke got a pretty necklace from Tiffany's jewelry store. It has been a dream of hers to get some jewelry from there, and it was super fun for her to be able to get it at Tiffany's in Paris!

We took the metro home, and then had stir-fry veggies and chicken with rice for dinner. We were all bushed from all of the walking that we had done. Janae's foot and Brooke's knee were hurting them. Seth and Josh had to do some school, and Austin arranged a date with the girl he had met at church, for Friday. We played some games and visited and then hit the sack.