After a good night sleep and a 1/2 hour more sleep in the morning we left with a bus for a half day city tour, passing by the most important buildings of this gorgeous city. The size and architecture of them is magnificent and very different from London. Our French tour guide Jan, gave us a good overview of it as well as some information on the Parisian lifestyle and how important it is to conserve their culture. Many things do get adapted from the US (i.e. Starbucks and coffee to go - for an authentic French person and absolut "NO") and it proofs to be difficult to make sure French habits and customs don't get extinct.
We also walked around a few sights to stretch our legs and explore on foot for a bit, around the Paris Opera House, Les Invalides (an old military complex and the place Napoleon Bonaparte is buried) and then we visited the Louvre, one of the world's largest museum. We had an hour free time for lunch and met up again to walk through this enormous building, to see some of the most important pieces like the Nike of Samothrace, Michelangelo's sculptures and obviously the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci.
The Grand Louvre is dating back to the 12th century when it was built as a fortress for Philip II. It had many additions thereafter and was used as the imperial residence till 1680 when Louis XIV decided to move to his Palace in Versailles. The Royal collection remained in the Grand Louvre and was converted into a museum already in 1793!!! Today over an area of 652,000 sq ft you can see more than 380,000 art pieces from paintings to drawings all the way to archaeological finds. I personally don't know what is more fascinating - the absolutely impressive in- and outside architecture or the artifacts. Either way, it is definitely a must see when in Paris! Specially the new and modern structure of the Glass Pyramide over the main entrance (built in 1988) gives it a unique and contemporary feeling.
We all had about 2,5 hours of free time to roam the exhibitions by ourselves a bit more, explore the Tuileries and Carrousel gardens or do some shopping for last minute trinkets and souvenirs. From there we went on for our dinner at another nice bistro, no doubt that food in France is much better than in England, although I also believe that our group restaurants in the UK weren't really a good example either.... Good thing lunch was on our own and everybody got to explore and find some good eats then!
After a really nice meal (and some celebrating of father's day and my birthday) we took the Metro, where we got to enjoy some musical entertainment (a group of 3 men that moves around in the underground cars with their instruments playing for the passenger's joy - not so fun for the locals but definitely for us!) and then the long stairways up to the Sacre Coeur Basilica, located on the summit of Montmartre, the highest point in Paris. The sun was just setting as we got there and the view was stunningly beautiful, when it was lit up with a view all the way to the Eiffeltower. Once again we all were in awe about the architecture and age of this magnificent church, unbelievable how detailed and enormous they were building in those times with such simple equipment!
A stroll around the small cobbled stoned streets and a treat to an Italian Gelato (thanks to our fundraiser money from the Tomato Patch!) ended our beautiful day, without rain!, in Paris. We managed to catch one of the last Metros back to our hotel and all collapsed in our beds, too tired to notice the smell, lousy bathrooms or noise from the trains and cars outside....
Bon nuit - tomorrow is our last day, sniff!!!
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