Strike Two at the Louvre

Early Thursday morning I went downstairs to the boulangerie next door and picked up croissants, baguettes and pain chocolate for all of us. The prices, when compared to C’est Si Bon bakery at home, were very inexpensive. I delivered half of the goodies to Matt and Hosanna on the 4th floor and took the other half down to Kathy on the 1st floor. Now that we’re older, we try to get a room on the lowest floor possible, so we don’t have to climb so many stairs in the event of an elevator failure. On the other hand, our view isn’t nearly as good as the kids’.

Our first stop today was the Louvre, where we had timed admission tickets for 9:30 AM. Last night, however, I received a notification that because of today’s general strike (not just railways), the Louvre would open later than normal. We still got there a little before 9:30 and found thousands of people milling around in front of the pyramid. We joined the queue at the back of the first line we came to, and then sent Hosanna off to investigate. It turns out we were in the wrong line (for 10:30 appointments). We finally found the 9:30 AM line and joined the art pilgrims.

We stood around for about an hour and a half, before they started letting people in. (Actually, everyone else stood around; I sat around as much as possible.) Those with 9:00 AM reservations went first, and then our line was let in. They moved everyone in very efficiently. 

Hosanna is the artist in our family, and Matt also knew what pieces he wanted to see. Kathy and I let them take the lead (since we had been here before), and we followed them around as they snapped pictures of all the masterpieces.  

Because they let so many people in at once, it was pretty hot and crowded. 

I took every opportunity to sit down and rest.  

Around 11:30 AM we had hit the major sights and were ready for lunch. We had some pretty good burgers at Louvre’s Cafe Goguette, under the pyramid, right next to Starbucks.

After lunch, Hosanna, Matt, and Kathy toured the sculpture and decorative arts exhibits in the Richelieu wing, while I sat and meditated. Around 2:00 the kids headed back to their apartment to rest for a bit before going to see Sainte Chapelle (4:30 reservation). Kathy and I stopped to shop on the way. It took us quite a long time to find a pharmacy, only to discover that NightQuil requires a prescription in France. By the time we finished, it was already too late for our reservation, we we called Hosanna who agreed to skip it. 

By 5:00 PM it had started to rain lightly, and Hosanna and Matt decided to get dinner and explore on their own. Kathy and I finished the morning baguette along with some cheese and salami in our room, and were asleep by 9:00 PM, about an hour before sunset. (Thank heavens for double-pane windows and steel shutters.

After their dinner, Matt and Hosanna, who are ardent gamers, took the Metro to Bastille and visited a post-apocalyptic immersive bar named the Atomic Cat. Kids today; what are you gonna do? 

Tomorrow morning we have a 9:00 AM reservation at Versailles. Kathy picked up a couple of sleep-aides, and tonight we’re going to see if I can sleep the whole night through.