Our marathon Eiffel Tower day and night meant a great night's sleep for all three of us. Den went for a bakery run about 8am and got us pain au chocolate, pain au raisin and croissants. A hot pot of coffee was waiting for me when I got up around 8:30. We went to the Simply supermarket just around the corner from our place to get some groceries and were back at the 69 bus stop around 1pm.
We got off at the Louvre stop and took Seb to see the Pyramid. Den took his many pictures and we went to have an easy lunch at the food court in the Carrousel du Louvre ~ not the best food in Paris, but it was fast and convenient. We then entered the museum through the Carrousel entrance, waiting about 10 minutes for security.
The Louvre now has 3DS Nintendo audio guides for rent ~ Seb has a blast figuring out where we were during our visit, entering the numbered audio guides and seeing where we should go next. He did really well for his first Louvre visit ~ he saw the Mona Lisa (he had the same reaction that everyone else does ~ that's it? It's so small!), the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory. He loved the Medieval Louvre and the moat as well as the Egyptian exhibits, including a couple of Sphinxes and sarcophagi.
We spent a little over two hours, which was plenty for an eight year old. As a reward, we walked to Angelina's, where Seb had the hot chocolate he has been hearing about for the last 2 years, ever since I brought his mom there in May 2010. He also had a sampling of macarons, pronouncing the salter butter caramel his favourite (smart boy). Den also had the hot chocolate and some ice cream and I had a cafe creme with more macarons.
The sugar rush revived us all and we started along rue Rivoli towards the Concorde metro station. Just a minute after we started walking, a very elegant French lady told us that if we looked back, we would see Karl Lagerfeld getting out of his Rolls Royce! Den snuck in a few pictures as I explained to Seb who he was. After a stop at the WHSmith and the obligatory pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Obelisk, we took the metro to the Bastille stop and walked home along rue de la Roquette. Romeo and Juliet is playing at the Bastille Opera House tonight and there were many people, all dressed up in their finest clothes, going up the wide stairs of this magnificent building.
We enjoyed the walk along de la Roquette, spotting a few more Space Invaders along the way. Seb is up to 21 viewings! We got some gyro sandwiches and fries for an easy dinner in ~ we've kept this boy up way past his bedtime 2 nights in a row and we don't want to tire him out too much (oh, who am I kidding ~ it's Den and I who are beat, lol).
We are now watching Amelie, Seb's in his pjs and I'm having a second glass of wine (hey, I'm on vacation). We'll be turning in pretty early tonight and have a full day planned tomorrow ~ a picnic at the Luxembourg Gardens, the wonderful playground there and maybe the Evolution Museum at Jardin des Plantes if Seb is up to it. Then, if the weather holds up, a Seine cruise at night to see Paris lit up at night and Eiffel sparkle from another angle.
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