Getting a Lot Done

Jet lag has continued to hit us hard. We made the mistake yesterday of taking a nap in the afternoon, which made it so we couldn't fall asleep until 3 in the morning. Thus, this morning we woke up late, frantically skipping breakfast to head to the Louvre. However, our oversleeping did not disadvantage us as we saw more today than on any other day.

We skipped breakfast and jumped on the Metro which led us strait to the ground floor of the Louvre. There were three different wings of the Louvre, and 4 floors, so we started with Austin's favorite. Starting with Greco-Roman sculpture, which included "They Dying Slave" by Michelangelo, and one of the most famous sculptures of all time, "Winged Victory". After the sculptures, we headed up to the French Paintings where we saw the Mona Lisa, and also to the 13th-18th Century Italian paintings where our favorite was "The Wedding Feast at Cana" by Veronese. Having taken AP Art History in high school, Austin was also excited to see "The Raft of Medusa" by Gericault. After seeing all of the Denon wing, we headed to Sully. Here we saw many Italian, Mesopotamian, French, and Egyptian sculptures, including "Psyche and Cupid", the "Code of Hammurabi", and "Winged Bull". After Sully, we made our way to Richelieu. Having already covered 2 wings of 4 floors each (mom and dad you'd be proud), our feet began to rot. However, we were determined to finish the Louvre strong. It was a good thing because Quincey really enjoyed Napoleon's Apartments which displayed Napoleon's lavish lifestyle and living quarters. After covering over 75% of the Louvre, we were both satisfied with the amount we had conquered. We then set out to walk the gardens outside of the Louvre. There we took a beautiful walk, and sat down by the fountain to rest our feet. Austin fed the ducks some of our baguettes left over from lunch, but decided to call it quits after attracting a number of pigeons. With still enough energy, we grabbed some gelato and headed off to the Eiffel Tower to make a trip to the top.

We arrived at about 4pm, and quickly stepped in the long line for our tickets. After about a 25 minute wait, with an overly aggressive Spanish tourist behind us who's never heard of the phrase "personal bubble", we made it in the elevator to the top. Although we never thought we were afraid of heights, going up that elevator to the top could definitely bring it out of someone. The wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour on one side, fast enough to make us hold on for our lives. However after walking to the other side, we became comfortable enough to enjoy the incredible view of the entire city. We spent a good amount of time pointing out all of the sites in the city and taking pictures.

Our next stop was Sacre-Coeur, and amazing Catholic cathedral set on the only hill in Paris. From there, we had another amazing view of the city, surrounded by lush green gardens. The architecture is beautiful, and aside from the cathedral and the view, we most enjoyed the surrounded area. The Sacre Coeur is in the Montmartre hill, a district famous for its wide range of artist. Van Gogh and Picasso lived and worked there. The cobble stone streets were covered with street vendors, little shops, and crepe stands. Tempted by the food, we both split a ham and cheese pizza and banana-sugar crepe. After walking along for quite some time, we both grew tired and decided to head back to the hotel at around 9:15pm.

We had originally planned to make dinner reservations for around 10pm, however after the exhausting day, all we wanted to do was lay in bed and put our feet up. Currently, Austin is attempting to watch the Padres game on the computer, while we are both enjoying a bottle of super market wine we opened with a pen and a hairbrush....