Day 5: Paris: Skip the line Louvre Ticket with Host for Mona Lisa and Paris: Night Bus Tour with Audio Guide

When I say we slept in we slept in and didn’t get up until after 11am. We decided the night before we’d leave the house at 12:25pm to head out to our activities for the day. We had a good breakfast this morning and got out on time. Today was a rainy day and we caught a bus to the train station and arrived early for our 14:15 (2:15pm) tour of the Louvre. Our ticket gave us a guide that lead us directly to the Mona Lisa otherwise it would’ve been a much longer wait and we would’ve gotten lost because the Louvre is enormous.

Our group consisted of about 26 people and the activity was through Get Your Guide. We met outside across from the Louvre and proceeded through the underground entrance that Leo told us about the other day. We were able to zip past people waiting in line and go through security like Clear in the airport. With over 380,000 pieces of art there is so much to see. Finally on the 4th floor there was a crowd gathered around non other than the Mona Lisa.

I wondered why the Mona Lisa, this small portrait compared to many others in the room was considered so popular. It is said that the portrait is popular beacause Leonardo Da Vinci captured the essence of realism in regards to landscape and anatomy. A fun fact I learned while reading about it is that it’s actually undone. Leonardo carried it around with him everywhere and went to a meeting with the French King at the time and the king wanted to buy it so he sold it. Honestly I don’t see the hype in it but I got a nice picture of her. FYI: Lisa Gherardini is her name and she was the wife of a wealthy silk merchant-she is now Mona Lisa.

After our guide led us to Mona Lisa she said we were free to explore the museum on our own so we departed ways. My mom and I went to the French Crown Jewels exhibit and the Egyptian exhibit. Along the way we saw some beautiful jewelry pieces, detailed statues and elaborate paintings. I can’t recall how many times we got turned around but thank goodness for the guides posted around for assistance. We stayed in the museum for about 2 hours.

Not far from the Louvre was a spice shop that I wanted to go to as I asked my friend what she wanted me to bring back for her and she said spices. We walked about 15 minutes to Épices Roellinger and smelled some of their spices. We left the store with bags full of spices (so Kassandra Kearse I got you and happy early birthday). We walked back toward the Louvre because our last activity was to pick us up there.

We get back about 10 mins early and waited for the Tootbus to arrive for our Paris at Night Tour. The Tootbus is like the BigBus Tour and we sat below in front right by the heat. Many of the places in which we passed on the bus we had already been to and since we’d been walking around the last few hours and we were cold it was good to just sit and listen via the audioguide. Our tour lasted 2 hours and we went all around Paris. With all the roundabouts traffic was a mess in parts but the city is pretty and busy at night. Some facts I learned while listening to the audioguide:

•Paris is 1 of the top 3 expensive cities in the world to live in

•Brasseries date back to the 17th century

•Paris is behind London as far as tourism for Americans (Bangkok isn’t far behind-based on hotel reservations)

•Paris is the world’s #1 destination for Congresses (business tourism)

•The 6th, 7th and 16th districts are considered elite

•There are no less than 2 proposals a day at the Eiffel Tower

•The Eiffel Tower is repainted every 7 years and was originally red. It is nicknamed the Iron Lady.

•There’s more than 130 theaters with 300 shows in Paris

•In the 1920’s the baugette became popular

After our Tootbus tour we made our way home but not before stopping at the grocery store down the street to re-up on some things. OMG as I was rushing to the register to meet my mom because I had a lot of things in my hand I saw a huge rat (it was big and long-I almost didn’t believe what I was seeing) run in front of me and through a crack. I sped past so fast, I was ready to go, let’s go! Finally we arrived home, settled in and ate our leftovers from last night (we were so hungry).

Tomorrow is our chill day and we only plan to go out for brunch right across the street (although I do want to get more pastries as they have all been good so I may walk around the neighborhood). We’ll get a chance to sleep in again which is nice and our bodies will get a chance to rest since we’ve been going since we’ve gotten here before leaving on Friday. I told my mom it feels like we’ve been here a week and a half already…