April 12, 2017

One thing is for certain today – we went to the Louvre and we have pictures to prove it.  Our tour guide gave us the rules for the day prior to entering.  If you’re pushed…push back.  She also told us that the walking tour would last for three hours!  Yes, three hours! That was the beginning of a very unpleasant morning.  Not exactly what we had expected but facts are facts.  There were hundreds of thousands of people there from all over the world and they all wanted to see the Mona Lisa.  Our group consisted of 23 other Americans who all possessed the single goal of fulfilling grandma’s wish to see the Mona Lisa before she dies (which could have happened waiting for this tour to get there).   So, with a bucket full of trepidation, we entered the Louvre.

We were herded down about 3,000 steps, through un-air conditioned hallways, to a very interesting exhibit on Mesopotamia!  Really!  The tour guide spoke about nonsense that Pat and I are convinced was just a ploy to determine whether we were listening or not.  We were also instructed to drink some water now because there would not be water up ahead.   That was kind of scary.  At the same time we were informed that it might be a good idea to use the bathroom now, since there were very few opportunities to go in our future, especially if you were female.  She actually told the women in the crowd to go ahead and use the men’s room if the women’s bathroom was full.  Now, I know we’ve been changing our public bathroom habits in the States…little by little…but this prospect did not set well.

So here are some of the things we did see on our aborted trip to the Louvre.

Why do people always want to jump in front of monuments? Might be our next book..

We were thinking of buying this place but the Mar a Lago decor just didn’t suit us.

The army tried to protect us from all the jumping tourists..Thank God!

Not the Arc de Triomphe. It’s the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built between 1806-1808 to commemorate Napolean’s military victories the previous year.

These are some photos of Napolean lll apartments in the Louvre. Mar a Lago, am I right? At least Trump did not use State funds while thousands were starving.

This is symbolizing the Holy Grail according to the DaVinci Code. I just think the Pyramid destroyed the beauty of the architecture of the Palace.