La Joie! Everyday Joy....: Paris

We didn't think we would need a wake up call as we felt that we had gotten enough sleep on the plane and had gone to bed early enough to get a good night sleep. We were shocked when finally woke up on day two at 11:30am - we had almost 16 hours of sleep! We had hoped to be up early to get to the Louvre by 9:30am. (The guidebook said the perfect times to visit the Louvre were 9:30am or 1:30pm.) So....we changed our plans a bit and went for lunch first and then went to the Louvre. (The guidebook also listed the days the museum was open. It would have been a bummer to get there and not have be open!)

My sister had purchased Museum Passes prior to our trip. This allowed us access to most of the places we were visiting and the best part of the pass was it all but eliminated the need to stand in line for tickets. With two little girls, that was a great idea!!! (Admission was free for the girls.)

So on day two, we ate lunch and then walked to the closest Metro to make our way to the Louvre.

Coming out of the Metro station and walking into the courtyard of the Louvre took our breath away. It was so beautiful. There are cement pillars in front of the Louvre that people stood on and then held their hand out to make it look like they were touching the top of the famous glass pyramid.

We were also "photo-bombed" by another tourist!

There are three very popular pieces of artwork at the Louvre and our guidebook gave great advice on how to best see these pieces. They are all kind of in the same area of the museum so with a map in hand, we got to see each piece before exploring the rest of the museum.
Venus de Milo

Winged Victory of Samothrace

The Mona Lisa

After finding the "big three" we each picked a piece of artwork that we wanted to see. We gave my niece the map and followed her to each of our choices.

My sister chose "The Consecration of Napoleon".

My niece wanted to see "The Scribe".

I wanted to see this painting by Vermeer.

My daughter was content seeing the gardens surrounding the museum.

By their smiles, I think my sister and niece enjoyed the gardens too.

After the Louvre, we stopped by a few local shops for food. Dinners out in Paris are very expensive so if you can shop in a market, it will save you a bunch of money and it's kind of fun putting together a local meal. Here are the girls OUTSIDE of a cheese shop - they couldn't stand the smell inside! My sister went in and got some great cheese.

Here are all of the goodies we bought to make a light meal.

After dinner, we were picked up at our hotel for a Paris at Night cruise and driving tour. Seeing Paris at night is a must and doing it the way we did was perfect. We were picked up in a van at our hotel and dropped off right at the boat for the Seine River Cruise.