Stephen Caton: Le Grande Tour De L'Europe: Paris, Jour Cinq

Well, this morning we went to Le Musee` de Louvre. It was absolutely overwhelming; it was so BIG!! It had five huge wings. I went to two of the five and didn't even get to see everything in those two! First we saw Madonna on the Rocks, The Wedding at Cana, and the Mona Lisa. In the room with Wedding at Cana and the Mona Lisa, there were tons of Asians. They were very rude and did not mind pushing and shoving to get where they wanted to go. The Wedding at Cana is so huge it covers a whole wall. The Mona Lisa is very small, and I had to fight my way to get to the front to take a picture of it. Next we saw Venus de Milo and the Coronation of Napoleon. The Coronation of Napoleon was more colourful than the one we had seen at Versailles. Venus de Milo was so stunning; she was everything I had hoped she would be! Then John David, the CCB Girls and I decided to head to the wing with the Egyptian Antiquities and the crown jewels of France. We saw many beautiful statues and sarcophaguses and jewels. We even saw the tomb of Rames II and the crowns of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Leaving the Egyptian wing, I got separated from the rest of the group, but thankfully I we reunited. After we left Le Louvre, we walked down the street (in the rain) to le Maison de Opera`, the Paris Opera House. Only a few of us went inside. It was absolutely the most beautiful and ornate thing I had ever seen in my life! It had more gold and carvings than Versailles!! I wished we could have gone to the Galleries de LaFayette, but we did not have enough time. We also went to the Notre Dame. The outside of this Cathedral look very similar to that of Westminster Abbey. There were several beautiful rose gardens flaking the cathedral; we also saw the famous gargoyles! We returned and started on the adventure of a lifetime....the night train!