Day 12: Lovin’ the Louvre

We take the Louvre’s Muse tour with our guide Guillaume. The cost at first seems rather exorbitant, but it’s highly recommended by two friends (Suzanne and Hera), and is named by all of us as a highlight of the Paris portion of our trip. The tour is organized as a treasure hunt where kids solve clues along the way. Highlights include the Code of Hammurabi, the Arago line marker (basically the French version of the Prime Meridian before it was moved to Greenwich), and my favorite, the massive Mesopotamian sculptures. The latter I would never have thought to go out of my way for, so kudos to Guillaume. After the tour we play the card game Guillotine (appropriate for Paris) for a bit, and then attempt to see the Louvre on our own. We have a new appreciation for how easily Guillaume maneuvered around the complicated museum layout. Eventually we find the Egyptian sarcophagi, but by then we’re DEAD tired…

Julia and James in front of the Arc du Carousel.

Julia on one of the Arago medallions marking the Arago Line in the Louvre. The Arago Line was the French rival of the Greenwich Meridian. Funny that we also visited the Royal Observatory at Greenwich on this trip!

James touches the upside down Louvre pyramid.

Can you tell Kathy loves mustard? (But not French's. That's an abomination.)

From the Louvre we pass through the gauntlet of Eiffel Tower replica sellers to the hedges of the Tuileries Garden. James LOVES hiding inside the hedges and to his delight we agree to play hide and seek. During the game we keep stumbling on replica sellers peeing in between hedges. (Le gross.)

Mark channels Sean Spicer. James: "What was Daddy doing? Peeing?" (This would be because of the number of people we stumbled upon peeing in the hedges.)

James plays hide and seek in the Tuilieries Garden.

James and Julia run to play hide and seek in the Tuilieries Garden.

Dinner is at Le Petit Cambodge, a hipster Cambodian restaurant in our neighborhood, recommended by new best friend Guillaume.

James: “I can balance my fidget spinner on one hand for 74 seconds.”

Julia: “So? I can do 75 seconds.”

Julia’s favorite thing of the day: Private tour of the Louvre, the “Mona Lisa”

James’s favorite: Dog painting next to the “Mona Lisa” (the first known painting where dogs
were the protagonists)

Day 11: Sailing Boats and Shell Games
Day 13: Foiled by Trump!