Trip report, Paris 10-16 july 2010, day three – the ups and downs of Paris

Every year when we have returned from Paris we have met the same question; did you see the Mona Lisa? The first three years we stayed at Disneyland and took day trips to Paris, and going to an enormous museum with long lines and big crowds was not what I felt would give the girls the best impression of Paris. Besides, you don't see much in a crowd if you are much shorter than the rest of the crowd. Well, the girls have grown, in year or two I will probably be the shortest member of our family, so there were no excuses anymore.

Having done my homework during the winter I learned that the best way to enter the Louvre was by taking the metro line 1 to Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre and go to Carrousel du Louvre, the big shopping mall under the Louvre. We bought our tickets in a tobacco store after a few minutes in line and followed the crowd toward Place de la Pyramide inversée. We got through the security control at the Richelieu wing and saw a lot of sculptures, masterpieces like Rubens and Rembrandt and so on. After a while our impressed "Ohh" started to sound lamer and lamer so we decided to have a meal and some shopping instead and then go back another day.

Actually one of the most impressing things I remember about this visit is the enormous line towards the main entrance, which we saw through a window. We couldn't see where the line started but it sure seemed like a bad way to spend your vacation in Paris?

Shopping, yes. Summer sales in Paris... We went to C&A on Rue de Rivoli, then to Yves Rocher to buy shampoo. Apparently we thought there would be more time for shopping later?

In the evening we went to Arc de Triomphe, another of those Paris "musts" we have managed to avoid. It was much bigger than we expected and to our big surprise there was no line at all, we just paid the entrance end went straight up to the top! Or maybe it would be more correct to say "in circles to the top", I don't know how many turns the spiral stairs made, at least there where 284 steps. The view was spectacular; we took a bunch of photos from the platform at the top. Definitely a place I'd like to go back to some day!