Seeing Uncle Justin

 We hoped on the metro and another metro to go see Uncle Justin and his family. They lived on the other side of Paris so it was a little bit of a journey abut we got to see a few things as the metro went above ground for part of it. Once there we walked through his neighbourhood and had lunch at their house. Auntie Sophie had a great idea to go to a park close by since the sun was out and it was so pleasant. The kids ran around in the grass while the adults picnicked. It was such a pleasant way to spend the afternoon and chat.

Jardin des Tuileries

 After leaving the Louvre we walked through the Jardin des Tuileries on the way back to the metro. It was a pleasant walk and there were so many people out enjoying the park. One thing that is so great about Paris is the number of parks that are always in use, and even better having chairs set out around fountains for people to enjoy the little pools of water. MV really loved it and looked the part sitting there.

Finishing up at the Louvre

 As was the case with the British Museum, the Louvre is just too big to see in a day so we got our fill and made our way out. We admired more of the fantastic paintings before we headed down to look at some of the Polynesian exhibits. There were some interesting statues including a Moai.

Wandering through the great halls of art

 The Louvre has so many famous works within its halls that it amazes us on each visit. There are of course the famous pieces like the Mona Lisa which we saw, but there are heaps more pieces which are just as impressive. The girls really enjoyed looking at some of the very large pieces with their heroic poses and scenes. 

Exploring the masonry at the Louvre

 We first had a look at the basement level of the museum where the original stone footings were preserved and on display. We then went and looked at many of the statues in the museum and had a bit of fun interacting with them. We all had favourites, can you tell which ones they were?

Going to the Musée du Louvre

 We headed to the Louvre to take a look at all of the wonderful exhibits there. We caught the metro and walked to what used to be one of the lesser known entrances. All of the entries have changed though since we last visited and our secret side entry is now the school group entrance. We headed to the main courtyard but that ridiculously long queue was for people without tickets and we were sent somewhere else with our pre-booked tickets. This queue had us waiting underground in what was essentially a shopping centre before we finally managed to go inside and the main foyer. The wait was worth it though.