Today we met a local guide for our Marais walk. He took us to a beautiful, private courtyard. As we walked down the street, he pointed out different building designs and the significance of their design. We walked through the Jewish Quarter, Place des Vosges, and past Agoudas Hakehilos synagogue on Rue Pavée. After the Marais walk, we had some free time. We went to the Carnavalet Museum.
After Carnavalet Museum, we ate lunch and took dad back to the hotel. My sister and I then headed to the original department store, Le Bon Marche. We use to have a Bon Marche in the town I grew up in, in Yakima, Washington. It was nothing like Le Bon Marche in Paris. This department store offered everything from clothes, to food and wine, and home furnishings. We then headed back to the hotel to meet the group for our next excursion.
After Carnavalet Museum, we ate lunch and took dad back to the hotel. My sister and I then headed to the original department store, Le Bon Marche. We use to have a Bon Marche in the town I grew up in, in Yakima, Washington. It was nothing like Le Bon Marche in Paris. This department store offered everything from clothes, to food and wine, and home furnishings. We then headed back to the hotel to meet the group for our next excursion.
Luckily for us, we were traveling in Paris in the offseason. We really didn’t have to deal with waiting in line or large crowds. We visited the Louvre on a Wednesday night, when it was open late. We had a local guide for this tour. We started off visiting the apartments of Napoleon III. She then took us to the artwork that everyone wants to see, including the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, and paintings by French and Italian painters such as da Vinci, Raphael, David, and Gericault. She also took us by the Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon which is an eight-foot black basalt stela which has 282 laws inscribed on it. It is one of the first known legal documents. She also took us by the Sphinx, but unfortunately there was not enough time for her to take us through the Egyptian art, so we had to do that on our own. She also took us by the oldest piece of art in the museum which is 9000 years old!
I guess I should not be surprised at how big the Louvre is. You could literally spend days there admiring the art and history, and probably still miss things. Because our time was limited, there were a lot of things that we were unable to see. I guess that means that I will just have to go back another time!
I guess I should not be surprised at how big the Louvre is. You could literally spend days there admiring the art and history, and probably still miss things. Because our time was limited, there were a lot of things that we were unable to see. I guess that means that I will just have to go back another time!