Thursday April 2, 2026 - Another Day in Paris and a Date With Mona

Mona Lisa

Up at 6:30 am this morning and breakfast at 7 am.  On the bus at 8:30 am for our 9 am tour.   

The tour lasted until 5 pm so it was an all day event.  We spent the morning on the bus touring various landmarks in Paris and made a stop at Notre Dame.  We opted for a coffee and a pastry instead of another viewing of the outside of the cathedral.  

Russian Orthodox Church.  Pretty impressive up close 

Our driver drove around the Arc de Triumph twice so we could get pictures of it.  It’s six lanes of traffic around the circle.  

Traffic weaving in and out around the circle 

 

Next we went past the Champs-Elysees where all the high end stores are located.

From there to the Place de la Concorde passing over some beautiful bridges 

There are some spectacular buildings in Paris and what we think is old, certainly is not in Europe 

This is the Musee D’Orsay that houses a large Rodin collection 

Everywhere you look there are all gardens,about a half a city block square 

Another church we walked past on the way to oward Notre Dame.

Just a beautiful door and the original family’s coat of arms above the door

The Pantheon here in Paris houses Madame Curie’s tomb

It was finally time for lunch which was included in the tour.  The French take on shepards pie which was really good and the brownie dessert wasn’t bad either.

Our lunch restaurant, they specialize in meat dishes

My shepherds pie

After lunch we headed to The Louvre.  We were split into two groups as no groups over 20 people can be guided through.   This is one crowded museum.   More people visit France each year than any other country.  Nine million people visit the Louvre annually.  On top, it’s school break and Easter.   To say it was crowded is an understatement but it was worth it.  Our guide , I swear, ran the entire museum.  Just keeping up with him was a task.  He wanted to show us the most important items and he gave us a lesson I’ll never forget.

One of our first major stops was at Venus de Milo.  Incredible in a book of pictures, it was spectacular in person.  

These are the original walls of the Louvre that they didn’t find until 1989 when the glass pyramid was built.  There was a moat full of water at one time.

Anyone who watched the movie DaVinci Code with Tom Hanks knows about the glass pyramid.

Venus de Milo

Here are a few other pieces we stopped at on the way to Winged Victory 

Some of the ceilings were amazing as well.

24 karat gold

Winged Victory

John the Baptist 

And then it was time for Mona.  Talk about a crowd.  You needed hockey skills to fight your way up to the front.

On our way out we saw a few more pieces our guide wanted to make sure we saw.  

And the more of the glass pyramid.

Makes me want to watch the DaVinci Code again.

It was a really good day.   10,000 steps and way too many stairs to count.  

Dinner was good with a nice chicken dinner and an excellent bean soup.  I earned the scoop of ice cream!

Tomorrow, an easy day.  Our official excursion isn’t until 3 pm but we stop in the morning in La Roche-Guyon.  Bettiann and I plan to walk u to town for a look around.  We sail again at noon to Vernon and our afternoon tour of Monet’s garden

For now my feet and knees need rest.  Good night from the Seine.