Today we started at around 10. I decided to take the metro to the Clemenceau- Champs Elisee and work our way backwards towards the Louvre since we had a 3:30pm tickets. And that was a good idea because by the time got through all those gardens and sat on a million benches, and chased a million pigeons, it was 3pm.

Jardín de Champs Elisee spills into Place de Concorde, that spills into Tuileries Gardens that go right up to the Louvre museum. The gardens are incredible. Although it’s still early in the season, they are filled with flowers, and flowering trees, and statues, and benches. Truly, I loved it. I kept thinking how nice it must be to bring a book and read.

Lunch. Today I dished out some money for lunch (77 euros). We went to Kapara, a middle eastern restaurant near the gardens. It was probably the best meal so far in Paris. The only thing that was available for the kids was “pasta” we were told. Great, pasta it is! But they got something that looked like pearl cus cus. It was still out of this world, and they both ate it. I got octopus as a starter, fish with chick pea salad, and then we shared a chocolate mouse.

After lunch, we walked to the Lion Door of the Louvre Museum, I read on the Internets that Louvre has many entrances, and, if you try to go through the Pyramid, you may be waiting for a while. Instead, people suggested going through other entrances. And they were right- we were the only ones at the Gate of Lions.

The Louvre. So many wonderful works, so many confused people. It was hot and packed. We did see the Mona Lisa. The plan of the museum was not clear to me and we kept going in circles. The bathrooms were secret passages hidden from the public. With all said and done, I did see some beautiful, haunting paintings. Here are some pictures from the Louvre.

Apparently, leaving the Louvre is just as difficult as getting in. You can’t just leave, you have to retrace your steps though all of the Egypt, all of the Greeks, and god knows what else, and in about 20 minutes you’ll arrive at the exit that turns into a mall so you are still not outside, you make your way though multiple escalators, though a variety of stores and then finally, finally, you see daylight.

We needed a snack after that. As usual I got them further away from the museum, and found a cafe.

I then realized that we’ve never seen the pyramid, because we went in though the Lion gate. So, back we went to hang at the square for a bit. The museum was closed by then but we wanted to see the outside.

Dinner was store bought sushi at our Airbnb. Tomorrow is a big day – Versailles!