A busy day in Paris

Our last day in Paris was a beautiful sunny day and a very busy one.

We had two things on our wish list for Paris, and it was our last day here and we hadn't done either of them yet, so we determined that we would do them both today.  The two things were going up the Eiffel Tower and seeing the Mona Lisa.

We set off on the Metro to The Louvre.

We expected huge queues but were pleasantly surprised that we were in very quickly, with next to no queue at all. The Louvre is enormous and you could easily spend days and days there, but our mission was really just to see the Mona Lisa, and anything else we saw en route would be a bonus.  I was very aware that my travelling companion was only seven, and although she is interested in art and famous paintings, I didn't want to push my luck.

However, we did see a lot of marble statues and beautifully painted ornate ceilings, as well as some other paintings on our way to finding Lisa.

When we reached the room that she was displayed in we saw crowds of people in the centre of the room, all jostling together en masse, trying to get a glimpse of the famous painting.  So, of course, we joined the throngs and slowly inched forward through the crowd until we were standing right at the front, behind the barrier, with the Mona Lisa right before us! I snapped a few photos and we were happy!

We sat on the edge of the fountain outside the Louvre and ate some crisps, while taking in the beauty
of the outside of the building.  Then we walked through the Jardin Des Tuileries, soaking up the Parisian ambience, the fountains, ponds, playground, people out enjoying in the sunshine.  We stopped and had a lunch of crepes with salted caramel sauce, from a kiosk, which we sat in deck chairs under the trees and devoured....they were so delicious.

While we were eating our crepes Miss S noticed a large colourful castle across the park.  We went to investigate and were told that it was a project that Disneyland Paris had created.  Hundreds of children had drawn and submitted their drawings of castles, and a selection of them had been chosen to be enlarged and printed onto construction material that was then built together into a life size castle of the children's art. It was amazing and wonderful....we were so impressed and inspired.  The children's accompanying stories were available to read on display boards around the castle.  We were able to go inside the castle and draw on the inside of the castle walls.  There were also tents set up where children could have their faces painted, and have their photos taken, and a tattoo tent where they could get a temporary tattoo put on their arms, but also have their own drawings made into a tattoo. Miss S drew a unicorn and delighted in telling everyone that she had designed her own tattoo.

After the fun of the Imagination Castle we went on to take a cruise on the River Seine. The cruise ended at the Eiffel Tower.  We finished our day with a ride up the tower. We took endless photos of the far-reaching views across the city, before making our way back to our little apartment, exhausted but thrilled by our busy day in Paris.