Paris, Day 4 - The Louvre, Our Fave Cafe, & a Night Tour

On our 4th day in Paris, we spent a leisurely morning going off by ourselves on bikes, stopping in cute shops, taking LOTS of pictures of little details, and getting a taste of what the street vendors had to offer.

Our first (big) stop was the Louvre. It is SO big. We got some wonderful advice from some friends we made on Pierre's birthday cruise. They told us the Louvre is almost impossible to navigate by yourself, you'd get lost. They told us about the book "Rick Steve's Guide to Paris" and even were so kind as to photocopy the pages on the Louvre. It totally helped. He walks you through the Louvre, tells you which way to go so that you get to see all the best parts of the exhibit in a couple hours instead of a couple days. Don't go to the Louvre without it!

*my best attempt at a Mona Lisa smile/grin + the crazy Mona Lisa paparazzi

*Venus de Milo & the glass pyramids

After the Louvre, we took a stroll through the Tuileries gardens. We stopped for lunch at the Cafe Reale. My Tata told us that it's the best cafe in the gardens because it's the only one there with a kitchen attached where the food is made fresh. It was SO good! (It's a tie for my favorite place to eat in Paris with the restaurant in the Orsay Museum).

After lunch, we rode over to Notre Dame. I was as surprised by the tiny details in the huge cathedral as I was by the amount of gypsies out in front of it. For real. I kept my eye out for a sexy one hanging out with a hunch back, but I didn't see any. After giving ourselves a tour of the inside of Notre Dame, we crossed a bridge, sat on the edge of the Siene river, listened to some street musicians and had some mango & coconut ice cream. It was perfect.

That evening, my Tata took us on her own "Paris by night" tour. She followed the double decker red bus and looked up information online on all the stops they made, and gives this tour to all her guests. It's awesome because it's free and she gives time to get out and take pictures. The tour begins and ends with crepes (first for dinner and then for dessert). It was so much fun. Thank you Tata!