Living in Kansas City, we have very limited experience with subways & trains. To get anywhere you drive! So, the Metro was a new experience. Our station was Pont Marie, which is a small station - no line transfers here. We took our time so as not to appear obviously clueless. 10:30 AM was slow in terms of French schedules. They seem to get late morning starts, which may explain their penchant for late dinner hours. We found our way to the Louvre, taking our time. We were very glad to have the Paris Pass, purchased in advance, for the convenience of Metro and museum tickets. The line to the Louvre was very long, but our understanding was that we could avoid the ticket lines with our Pass. Huge bonus points for Bill's disability... The lift on his boot as well as his cane was the Golden Ticket. We simply went to the front of the line to ask a question about entry, the guard looked at Bill's foot & opened the gate without hesitation. We acted like we knew what we were doing & breezed by: "Merci!" Once inside under the glass Pyramid you need to have some idea about what you want to see as there are 3 enormous "wings" to this museum (former palace): Denon, Sully & Richilieu... Each wing has 3 floors (i.e., ground, first, and second). There is also an `Entresol' - below ground-level. We went through 2 of the 3, or so I thought... As it turns out we were in parts of all 3. Our targets were the most famous: the Mona Lisa, as well as other da Vinci and Italian Renaissance art, Venus, Winged Victory and other marble statuary. It is easy to get lost and turned around in the maze of hallways & stairways. If you can get a glimpse through a window to see the main courtyard it helps keep your bearings. The map was somewhat helpful... It is just so overwhelming. We missed da Vinci's painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (although I was sure I looked carefully) and the Egyptian collection, but it is impossible to do it all in one day and we were fairly certain we would return during the week.
Bill's POV:
The Louvre (a wealth of wealth)
It is no wonder the French killed their kings and now I better understand the origins of the French revolution.
After making our way back to Ile St. Louis we stopped for something to hold us until diner. It turned into chocolate crêpes, mainly because we made the mistake of choosing a small shop for hot chocolate, but one sits to drink a beverage and to prevent further insult to the owner I quickly said "Oui, deux crêpes au chocolat, 'take away.'" They do not seem to be fond of carry-out-style food or drink, i.e., no to-go!
For dinner we found a charming little restaurant Les Gourmands de l'Ile with reasonable prices, just down the street from our hotel. We should have checked the reviews ahead of time... They had 3 wine choices: bottle, carafe or glass - in other words, how much are you going to drink?? Bill ordered Bœuf Bourguignon which was actually delicious. I know this because he shared it with me after I mistakenly ordered Le Cassoulet. It turned out to be little more than white beans & hot dogs... MISTAKE! Plus, the soup was a puree of butternut squash & carrots, otherwise known as vegetable soup - Not what I had in mind. The atmosphere was charming, though. We were shown to the cellar down the narrowest spiral staircase I have ever seen: 2 complete 360 degree turns to the stone "cave" - Memorable!
Bill's POV:
We ate dinner at a small bistro, nothing to get excited about. The beef bourguignon was very good.
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