Today was the last day before we returned home. We were going to see The Louvre then head over to the airport. We got up and got everything together and checked out. Being free Sunday, the line at The Louvre was ridiculous. You would think you were at the end of the line, then discover there was another courtyard! They put a sign up saying our expected wait was 3 1/2 hours, but luckily it was only a little over an hour.
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We got in, perused around for a bit then headed over to THE MONA LISA! Everybody got their picture with the celebrity as mandatory. I find it very interesting that the painting across from the considerably underwhelming Mona Lisa is one of the largest paintings I have ever seen. Did they do that on purpose to make her look even smaller? I know the Italians are still bitter that The Louvre (the lost and found of great art) has her, but you would think the curators at The Louvre would want to highlight her in terms of placement? Or maybe there is more history there than I am appreciating right now...
We walked around for a bit more then headed home to call a cab for the airport. The cab driver drove super fast - it reminded me kind of our drive on the Autobahn in Germany... We got to the airport which was surprisingly calm and SO STYLISH! It was crazy how stylish it was. Spacelike tubes, fancy people movers and "little girl's rooms that looked like little girl's rooms," as Radhika put it. We were amazed.
We got on the plane and couldn't wait to be back in AMURICA!
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Radhika in front of the newest addition to The Louvre
We walked around for a bit more then headed home to call a cab for the airport. The cab driver drove super fast - it reminded me kind of our drive on the Autobahn in Germany... We got to the airport which was surprisingly calm and SO STYLISH! It was crazy how stylish it was. Spacelike tubes, fancy people movers and "little girl's rooms that looked like little girl's rooms," as Radhika put it. We were amazed.
We got on the plane and couldn't wait to be back in AMURICA!
Today we hit up all the must-sees of the city, including the Palace of Versailles. I was excited to see the Palace because of its historical significance and the controversy that has always surrounded the SUN KING. The Palace was beautiful of course and reminded me a lot of the Windsor Castle - in use and in design.
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We were going to go to Sacre Coeur, but it ended up getting to late unfortunately. Instead we went to the Notre Dame. While we were waiting in line we saw this little girl inside the gates, where you weren't supposed to go. While we tried to figure out how she got in there, she was trying to get herself out between the grates of the gate, but her head wouldn't fit. She kept tugging and tugging, but wasn't frazzled - although we were getting concerned as was her father. Eventually he got her out...
The cathedral was great and there was even some type of mass/ceremony of some sort going on which was attracting a lot of attention.
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The beautiful stained glass windows
Then we headed to the Arc de Triomphe and meandered along Avenue des Champs-Elysees. We stopped into the Swarovski store which was way better than the one at the Mall at Millenia.. duh its Paris! We had some smoothies to cool off and then went home to find dinner.
By this time we were missing some of our staples - eggs and Indian food. We had already been advised by a local that the French "eat sugar for breakfast," so we weren't going to find any eggs. Croissants it is!!! But the hotel concierge advised us to go to "Passage Brady" which ended up being this quaint road of Indian-ness. We found a North Indian Restaurant (as Mom said, "apne North Indian bhande") and had some really good food. YUM! Got some butter chicken too - needed protein to replenish our muscles from all the walking haha.
We headed to bed knowing the next day would be the last of our adventure..
