Our last full day in Paris

As our last full day in Paris dawned, Madeleine and Daniel started with an early morning train ride to the Louvre.

The Louvre is where the Mona Lisa is kept and we knew the queues would be long. We were also looking forward to seeing the glass pyramid and the Venus de Milo. The Louvre was the largest museum we planned to visit and without a map we knew we would surely get lost! 

Look a statue of Madeleine!

And Daniel too!

Notice the glass pyramid in the background. This is the entrance to the Louvre.

Daniel inside the glass pyramid "It's like a giant skylight"

Once inside we followed the map through a maze of galleries and passageways. Our kids-only guidebook called "Paris. Everything you ever wanted to know - NOT FOR PARENTS" says it would take 9 months to see all 35,000 pieces of art housed in the Louvre!! Finally we reached the Mona Lisa but could only see her over a sea of heads. 

Dad can you see her in the view finder?

Just a little to the left Daniel

Can we get any closer?

No....but we're lucky there aren't even more people...

...we have the zoom lens!

Here's a clearer picture

Next we wove our way through the crowds to the lower floors. We were looking for the famous statue called the Venus de Milo. On the way we passed many rooms with huge dark paintings and saw fabulous mosaics. Most of these have been transported from far away lands but the one we are looking at in the photo will return to its homeland once a museum is built to house it.

The Lod Mosaic

There she is

"When World War 2 started the Louvre was so worried that Venus would be stolen or damaged that they sent her to the countryside for a holiday until it was safe for her to return". Our Paris guidebook is very helpful.

The Louvre is not only enormous with hundreds of rooms, it also has thousands of windows and each window has beautiful views of the grand facades, courtyards and outdoor staircases.

This horseshoe staircase reminds us of the Palace Fontainebleau

Then it was time to say goodbye to the Louvre and all it's amazing artefacts and head out to the Tuileries Gardens and the Musee de l'Orangerie.

Whilst walking through the gardens Daniel spots some goats! It appears this is how they keep the moats looking so well manicured.

Mum can we get a goat for our garden at home?

Goats in moats!

The gardens not only host beautiful flowers and plants but a display of very tall statues, it's like walking through an open  air museum.

Paul makes the best croissants

The Musee de l'Orangerie is home to eight of the "Water Lilies" by Claude Monet.

It also houses paintings by Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse and Renoir. We are looking forward to learning more about these artists during art at school because their paintings are all so beautiful. You aren't allowed to take photos inside so we found these on the internet. The room is interesting as well.

(It wasn't this empty during our visit)

Next it was time for lunch. On these busy days with such early starts Mum makes ham and cheese baguettes to eat when we find somewhere comfortable. This day was a little different as it had started to rain quite heavily and we were in an unfamiliar area - so we ended up standing in a doorway to keep dry whilst eating our lunch! Every day brings new experiences, it was fun watching people ducking in and out of the rain.

After checking the map Dad found an area of medieval  streets and buildings to wander around where we found a cute cafe to warm ourselves with a hot chocolate.

Now there was just one more stop before we headed back to the apartment to pack; the Place des Vosges. On the way we bought macarons from Lenôtre to take to Torsten, Benedetta and Alice; friends we will visit in Frankfurt.

The view from the street as you approach Place des Vosges.

This is the view from inside the square looking back through the arch we came through

This is where Victor Hugo lived while in Paris.

He also lived in other parts of Europe. Victor is a famous french poet. He wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (we have a copy of this at home and read it regularly), Les Miserables (Mum and Dad say we will enjoy this musical when we are older) and a lot of other stories. The street we stayed in for the last 2 weeks was named after him,

and his house at 6, Place des Vosges has been turned into a museum.

The square was beautiful, the houses all matched and the garden in the middle had playgrounds and fountains.

Daniel in the playground

Our visit to the Marais district was complete. We hopped onto the Metro for the last time and lucky for us it was another driverless train!!!

After packing ready for our trip to Frankfurt we strolled along our local streets to a lovely restaurant called Le Petit Retro.

We all enjoyed a delicious meal - the chef cooked up special cheeseburgers for us. Mum and Dad ordered traditional French food. While we waited for our food we wrote postcards.

At the end of the evening Daniel entertained passersby with the Mexican Hat dance.

There were pretty flower tiles throughout the restaurant and there were so many mirrors we could see lots of ourselves!

Time to go..... it had started to rain so on went our new coats. The temperature had dropped and Madeleine needed her coat to keep her warm as her teeth were chattering!

The little penguins waddling with their Mama outside the apartment in Villa Victor Hugo.