Today was another...

...sunny day. We had planned to go to the Louvre early since we've heard of the really long queues, but since we were able to get skip-the-line tickets, the urgency was removed. Instead, we spent the morning chilling in our apartmen pushing back the time we were to leave till about after lumch.

We arrived at the carnival station at 1pm. Heading to the Louvre entrance from the mall, the first thing we saw was the glass pyramid hanging from the ceiling, so we knew we were in the right place. The museum is massive, it would take way, way longer than the few hours we had to appreciate everything on display. So, we got the audio guide and tried to locate in the map the pieces and collections we were interested in. Specifically, the Mona Lisa, of course, Venus de Milo and the book of the dead.. Anj also wanted to see the egyptian antiquities and the Napoleon apartments, so we made time for that. We spent the better part of 4 hours going to different exhibits until we've had quite enoigh of art and history for the afternoon. We exited towards the Tuileries Gardens. At the park, we got ourselves some ice cream, sat around the fountain while writing on postcards to send back home. This seems to be a popular pastime here, sitting around the fountain and watching people pass. So, we did as the locals did for a bit.

After we've had enough of people watching, we walked towards the Plaza Concorde and took another glimpse of Arc d'triumphe from a distance.

Before heading back to the apartment, we had coffee at the 'Amelie' Cafe, eclairs at Van Gogh's favorite brasserie, stopped by the local rotisserie to buy dinner and got fruits from a neighborhood fruit stand. The Middle eastern vendor was a nice man who asked where we were from. My sister answered the Philippines and he gave her an extra fruit because his son loved his visit here . All in all, not a bad day. :)