Three Paris posts now and I know you’re wondering, when am I going to the Louvre? Today, this morning, I got there half an hour before opening because I didn’t have my ticket in advance like I should have but even those lines with tickets were getting kind of long. Now, like most people, I went straight for Mona. Everyone wants a selfie with her smile and I got one too. Be nice now, I’m not a selfie girl and so I suck at them. Once I got that out of the way I circled back and spent some time with the Wings of Victory. This is my all-time favorite statue! I don’t know what it is but ever since art history class I have simply gotten so much joy from looking at this statue.
I spent 4 hours wandering the Louvre. The former military fortress - turned royal palace - turned museum is an event in itself and it’s certainly easy to spend more time there but alas, 4 hours was all it took me and my easy breezy museum ways. All the same, I saw quite a lot! Now, there are people who go around and take pictures of everything, I didn’t, I snapped some pics of the galleries and of some of those pieces I recognized from my school days, but I tried not to stay behind my lens the whole time.
I met up with J again outside the pyramid and we took a stroll down the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Now, it had been drizzling in the early morning and I had hoped it would stop but it did not, it was soggy and wet the whole way. Even climbing to the top, we could barely see the Eiffel Tower and the top was hidden in fog! But all the same, the views were still spectacular and you could really see how Paris is on a grid system, it’s really quite amazing.
On to the Eiffel Tower, a little drizzle never stopped anyone and so we continued on and got ourselves in line. The top of the tower was closed due to the fog but that just meant it saved us a few euros and we headed to second floor. After some time spent exploring the view and taking some pictures of course, we headed to the first floor where we found some seats and rested our poor tired feet. By this time, I was feeling somewhat disappointed with the weather, my mood was beginning to look just as dreary and I was wishing I had done this a few days ago when it had been amazing and sunny.
Well, fog and gloom still around J and I went off to find dinner, which was mostly just an excuse to sit down somewhere warm and dry and rest for an hour until the sun went down. Why? Because the Eiffel Tower lights up of course! We had plans to see it in lights and our expectations were not crushed because when we returned the gloomy weather had moved on and we could see the top clearly and it was no longer wet and dreary!! It was so exciting!
All that done and I’m so sorry to say that I’m leaving Paris in the morning. I don’t want to go yet!