Day 13: Europe

 Kasey- We got up around 7:30 and took our time getting up and to breakfast at 8:30. Breakfast was disappointing--only bread and hot chocolate. We snagged some bread and nutella spread for the road and headed out. We were able to park for free by the gardens because we got there after 7pm but had to move our car before 9am. Parking is sooooo expensive in Paris. I had done some research to find a pretty cheap parking garage but it was close to the outer ring. Directions of course never go as planned because of one way streets, traffic, road construction, etc, but we found our way to the garage and walked back up to the Louvre. We walked all over Paris--we figured out after that we walked more than 24 miles in 2 days in Paris. Waiting in line for the Louvre we pulled out some bread and some cheese bread we got from our Luxembourg hotel.

When we were paying for our tickets to the Louvre they asked me if I was getting a youth ticket for Emmy--the lady thought she was under 18...which would make me a sicko! The Louvre is massive, of course. There is so much to see--we actually did pretty well about going through lots of exhibits and then spent more time on the things we each liked to see.

 We spent about 3 hours there and enjoyed the Italian and French art sections. Emmy really likes Greek and Roman art, as well. I liked the Egyptian section. We of course saw the Mona Lisa and got as close as we could to it.

               *This picture looks like Kasey is by himself in here, when really this place was a zoo!

Emmy thinks Mona Lisa knows something we don't. We had fun interpreting some of the Italian paintings. We walked to Notre Dame afterwards and got some tasty flat bread with some good spices on top. It was really good. We met up with a tour guide outside the Notre Dame cathedral and did a tour of the Latin Quarter.
 

We are both really glad we did it. It was done by a local college student and he showed us a lot of interesting places including where a lot of protests happen, where the guillotine was invented, the main colleges, etc. We learned that the left and right banks are called that way from the reference of the way the water is moving and that Paris started on the island where Notre Dame is. We saw the Shakespeare and company building where local artists will work for a few hours a day in exchange of getting their room for free. We saw the oldest tree in Paris and the oldest Church.

 We went back to Notre Dame and did a tour there. 

Then we went out to eat at an Indian Restaurant. I like the Indian food better in the US. We eventually made it back to our hotel.