Paris in a Day

Paris is very crowded so we woke up early and went to the Louvre Museum to get in line before it opened. We were one of the first to the ticket window. We went straight to the Mona Lisa, beautiful, but much smaller than we expected. From there we went right to the Venus De Milo. The Louvre claims the statue really should be called Aphrodite, her Greek name, rather than Venus, her Roman name, because she was found by a Greek farmer in 1820 on the Island of Milos. We also toured Napolean's apartment in the Louvre, since it was formerly a royal palace. We learned that it is the largest museum in the world.

After the Louvre, we went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where there was a special display and procession of the Thorn of Crowns, worn by Jesus on the cross, a nail of the Passion, and a splinter from the cross. These are among the most prized relics in the Church and there are special Knights that protect and care for them.

We walked all over Paris, and had ice cream on the Bridge to Ile St. Louis, a small island in the Seine River, while a band played and girls danced, it was a very fun environment. We toured the Tuileries Gardens and the Luxembourg Gardens. At Luxembourg Gardens we played in the park and had a GIANT Cotton Candy. We met some young girls from Michigan and from Texas.

We walked to the Eiffel Tower, which was really crowded so we'll go there early tomorrow. We also went to the Arc De Triomphe, had dinner on the Champs Des Lysee, and per our routine, went to some local markets to see different foods and compare prices.

The tradition in France is that all of the bells from all of the Churches go silent starting on Holy Thursday. The bells fly to Rome to visit the Pope and return Easter Sunday with gifts for the children (chocolate bells and chocolate fish are popular), so Easter Sunday all of the Church bells will ring again.