But it was a good idea as the Louvre was very busy. It is so difficult to comprehend the magnitude of this building.
We had been advised if you were to stand in front of each exhibit for 30 seconds, it would take you 3 months to see the lot. Given this, the amount of people and that it was a bit stuffy in some places, we chose to have a quick look through as we made our way straight to the Mona Lisa. We had been warned that the picture was quite small but in actual fact it was bigger than we expected.
We also visited the Venus de Milo statue (or Aphrodite as some people know it as).
We had hired an audio guide to hear about all the exhibits, as with other places we have visited, these have been invaluable. Now, I don't know if it was us, but we found them difficult to navigate our way around with them. It would give you a pictorial route to get to places, but it was pretty hard to follow. Although, I did manage to find Napoleon's apartments, but couldn't seem to work out how to get out of the place.
Following this visit, we went for lunch at Carrousel du Louvre, which is attached to the Louvre with many shops and a food hall of sorts. We had a Chinese dish as we were both craving some good old meat. Seemed funny being served by French speaking Asian people.
Off to Sainte Chapelle this afternoon, renowned for it's stained glass windows. Built in the 13th century to house the relics of the Passion of Christ. There is still a lot of work to go on with restoring these 15 beautiful stained glass windows, but you certainly get the idea of what they used to look like. Those that have been restored were pretty stunning.
After this we went to the Arc de Triomphe, built to honour the victories of Napolean's Grande Armee. You get the impression from the TV that this is quite big, but it is massive. As you stand underneath you can appreciate this vast structure in all it's glory. Then joy of joys you get to go up to the top via steps and a narrow spiral staircase. Some 284 steps apparently. Damn near killed us both! But the effort was worth it for the view.
This also sits at the top of the Champs Élysées at a huge roundabout with no lanes and it seems very little in the way of rules. Some pretty crazy driving going on there.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and being suitably knackered we made our way back to the apartment.
Oh, and courtesy of the bus tour, we now both have full on colds.
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