Louvre

Started day with intentions of visiting Notre Dame Cathedral and then heading to the Louvre....then saw that the line into Notre Dame was longer, and more crowded with tour groups (as evidenced by the number of sticks with flags, toys and banners attached), so made the on-the-spot decision to head directly to Louvre. Arrived, line went quickly to check bags, then into ticket hall for tickets, where I was promptly mistaken for an Australian as I had my Tilley on my head - I quickly corrected the cashier and explained that Tilley's were Canadian.

First entrance we saw, we took, and ended up headed straight for the Mona Lisa....and I bet 3/4 of the other people were too. The crush of people who just wanted to take their own photo to prove they were there, and not just appreciate the art for itself was amazing. Ainsley an I stood back at the edge of the crush so we could just look, yet more people kept pushing forward - and I swear one lady has my ear in half her photos as she held an iPad essentially on my shoulder.

We headed off to see other paintings, and it was amazing how the crowd thinned the further you got from the Mona Lisa.

For as much of the day we were in the Louvre, you forget the museum is as big as it is - we still ended up doing 21759 steps! The only big disappointment was that the French Painters section was closed - but Ainsley said it just gives her the excuse to come visit again.

After, we headed back towards the Notre Dame, I had previously looked up the mobile store to get SIM from and knew we would be passing right by- while some folks had complained about service and waits, we were in and out in 15 minutes- but best part is that since I waited until today, the plan conforms to new EU rules regarding roaming, it will work in Germany too.

At Notre Dame, line still long, but moving fast and no groups. We entered, and Ainsley stopped to light a candle - well, apparently they missed us in the side section, where they had cleared to start mass - and we got chased after as we had no clue. Guy was nice, asked if we wanted to go to mass, but Ainsley declined, so we cleared the area. And decided we will try a third time.

Crossed the bridge, and found a bistro - I had a beef with wine sauce button mushrooms and linguine, while Ainsley had the Croque Monsieur. She gave it a 9/10. The best part was the drinks - I had a mint tea, while Ainsley had a limonaide....she was not expecting the neon green!

Headed home to the hotel to get ready for Vimy tomorrow.