TO THE LOURVE!!!

 But first…after we finally got my ass out of bed we grabbed breakfast (croissants yum!) and headed down to the Champ Elysee.  A little chilly this morning and I thought as a Cali girl I would be cold but apparently the Parisian’s are a chilly lot.  Many had on heavy jackets, hats and scarves while Kirk had on short sleeves with his vest and I had on a light jacket and scarf (the accessory of every Parisian apparently). But the walk was lovely through the park by the US Embassy and by a lot of shops, fancy and regular.  What an amazing structure!  The detail on the buildings here is just overwhelming.  It really seems like every building is beautiful.  

(Let me interject a quick note on Paris fashion.  Anything goes except full on make up.  Very little here. There are absolutely no Kardashion looking Parisians.  No fake lips, no frozen faces, no big, fake anything. Not one single casual bun on anyone’s head.  But there is no one style or look.  Everyone is completely themselves whatever that may be.  The one and only commonality is the purse.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, is carrying a smallish bag with a long chain/strap across their body) 

Grabbed a quick lunch with a hilarious ‘vegetable soup’ and each a sandwich baguette.  (Heavy on the celery and potatoes, light on flavor.  LOL.)  Then… to the Lourve!  We had a private tour guide who took us in a secret entrance and she really, really knew her artists and the history of Paris as well the Lourve itself.  I would not have enjoyed this without her.  She pointed out the most intricate details of paintings, talked about the life of the painters/sculptors and so much more.  We had no idea the white marble sculptures had actually been intricately painted at one time.

After our tour we did a wine tasting at a cave that used to be attached to the Lourve.  We had some lovely French wines and also a lot of history and details about the terroir, wine rules and regions.  Then we were starving!  We had a hard time finding a place to eat b/c Mondays so many places are closed but now we are back in our lovely hotel and ready to tuck in for the evening after almost 10 miles of walking today alone.  

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris.  We hope to hit Notre Dame (just to see it), the Pantheon, some creepy caves with bones and eat well.  Then we are training to Lyon on Wednesday to drink wine and eat some more!