Louvre, Museum D'Orsay, Notre Dame, more shopping :)

Today was to much fun!  I love traveling with Matt.  We both like to go until we have blisters all over our feet and can't stand up!  Plus, he loves to have an adventure... even if it means getting lost.  My Nani hated when I took her on adventures when I was little.  I would always get us lost and we would have to find our way home.  It's funny now, but she was NOT laughing then :)  Anway, today...

We got up and headed to the Metro.  Can I just say this, WHY IN THE HECK DOESN'T DALLAS HAVE A METRO SYSTEM LIKE!  How easy and wonderful it is to get all over the city of Paris!  We headed to the Louvre.  Now, you must purchase your tickets ahead of time so that you do not have to stand in line.  Go to their website and they have a couple of vendors that you can purchase tickets through.  We chose the "PICK UP" option.  They have these places called "WithDraw Points."  The closest one is in the shopping mall located in the Louvre.  You enter through the Rivoli entrance and head to the Virgin Mobile Store.  You will need your order number and the credit card that you purchased the tickets with.  We did not have our order number, and she refused to look us up by our names, so we hopped over to the apple store, checked my email, got the order number and headed back to pick up our tickets.  Not too much of a hassle.  We did not have to stand in any line except for security to check our bags.  The museum is a zoo this time of year, so we booked it straight to the Mona Lisa.  On the way, we took a few glances at some other artwork, but I wanted Matt to at least see her.

There is a mob of people around her all the time, but it's worth the elbow bumping to get that one magical shot of her! 

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Miss Venus de Milo

One of the HUGE Sphinx

Napolean's Apartment

Matt at the "bar" of Napolean's dining room...

Some of the artwork in the Louvre is GIGANTIC!  I wanted to try and show you all just how large some of them are...

After the Louvre, we headed to Museum D'Orsay... well the line was snacked around and around and around so we decided to book our tickets and see when we could make it back. 

On our way to our next stop we had a quick sandwhich.  I love the sandwhiches at the walk up windows all along the streets.  Here is a great one we ate at.

As we were walking up to Notre Dame, we encountered another begger.  There are these woman that come up to you and ask you "Do you speak English?"  Matt and I have learned to say no and just walk away, but today I was feeling a bit frisky... so I decided to tell her to go away.  Well big mistake.  In her fabulous attempt at cussing me out, she managed to get a good "F YOU" and "Kiss my a%&" OUT :)  I died laughing!  I could not help myself!  

Anway, on to Notre Dame... I had seen the outside before, but I had missed out on the incredible inside.  Here are some shots of the whole thing :)

The stained glass is incredible!

Right near the Notre Dame, some delicious ice cream awates you!  Do not miss out!  It's right across this bridge!

Look for the green awning!

After seeing ND, we headed back to the hotel and booked our tickets to D'Orsay.  We ended up booking them for today.  We had to go back down to the Virgin Mobile Store and pick them up, but it was worth it.  No picture taking in this museum... and what a shame because it was incredible!  Most of you know I am Renoir's biggest fan.  I LOVE THE IMPRESSIONIST PERIOD!  We saw a ton of Manet, Monet, RENOIR, Van Gogh, Degas, Vuillard, Cezanne, and many many many more!  DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS MUSEUM!

After walking all over the place, I thought for sure my shopping trip was out of the question, but luckily I have the sweetest husband in the entire world and he took me for one last hooray!  Did I mention that I already bought two extra bags?  And by the way, no one (except Mom and Meme) are getting olive oil or wine because we have spent nearly 200 euro already on getting it to Paris and now we will be spending about another 300 euro to get it home.... SORRY ;)  The cheap oil and wine have now become more precious than gold! 

After shopping we came back over to the neighborhood we are staying in and Matt grabbed a slice of Quiche.  I will take pictures of this bakery.  There is always a line out the door and nothing is left after 5:00 pm.  We came back to the hotel and packed our 4 big bags... yes 4 and now I am just about to keep reading and relaxing. 

Christina - I am relaxing... as much as it seems like we are go go go, we have stopped, much because of your advice :)

Kel- I am not coming back to Europe with out you EVER AGAIN!  Seriously!

Tomorrow will be hectic in the afternoon, so whatever we do in the morning, I will try and blog about it!

CIAO!