Day Fiftyfive - Jul 15, 2012

Paris, France

High Point: 'It's just got to be the Louvre, man'-Theresa

Low Point: Navigating the crowd on the Champs De Elysee

Miles By Foot: 9

Miles By Train: 3

Today's Antiquities: 'Ha ha ha. That's hard. How about Winged Victory?'-Theresa

Today's Weather: Overcast all day, rainy and windy midday. Jacket weather. We currently really appreciate it. In the 60s

Tonight's Lodging: Sam's flat in Paris

Touristic Events: The Louvre Museum, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower

Travel Tip: Different town, same advice. Get the Paris Museum Pass. Worth it for the line skipping at the Louvre alone

Daily Didactic

Paris, it's full of big deals. We got going relatively early and walked from our place through the Latin Quarter, across the Ile de la Cite (the island in the Seine river that sports Sainte-Chapelle and the Notre Dame Cathedral), and then on to the home of big deals, the Louvre Museum. For the most part it was a relatively uncrowded experience (with the exception of the "I've got to get a picture of the Mona Lisa" mosh pit) and the museum is so huge that it seems to spread folks out. Today's highlights included Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa, and a truckload of lesser masterpieces. As everyone has told us, it was a bit much and was just day one of two. After about four hours of Louvreing we emerged through the Pyramid and decided to empty our heads with a walk up the Champs Elysees. It was a lovely walk but became more and more crowded as we got closer to the Arc de Triomphe. The last couple of blocks were thick enough with people that we kind of expected to see the Mona Lisa on the other side. Instead we found the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the stairs to the top for a panoramic view of the spokes of Paris that radiate out from the hub. Although we'd already had a big walking day, we realized that the Eiffel Tower was a stone's throw (or so) away and decided to walk to it and catch a metro home so we'd know how to get back when the time came. The scene around tower was pretty chaotic in the late afternoon, so we ogled for a moment and then hopped a train back to our pad on the edge of the Latin Quarter. We checked Yelp for another dinner recommendation and a short time later ended up in a line for what turned out to be our first Chinese restaurant of the summer. The food was great and the seating so tight that they had to pull out tables for customers to get to the far sides. We ended up enjoying a pretty amusing conversation with an older Jewish couple next to us and were reminded that we travel differently than some. In the early evening we strolled back up some idyllic Paris streets and climbed into our petit flat for the night.