Cruising....

One of the many locks we went through on our way to Rouen.

Next.... The American Cemetery in Normandy.

The Louvre continued....            Part of  Napoleon's Coronation and of course Mona Lisa.

It is very  difficult to get a good picture of the Mona Lisa.  She is encased in a climate control wall and behind bullet proof glass.  

John the Baptist by Leonardo Di Vinci.  What is so amazing is that when you visit the St. Louis Art Museum, you see one of this artist and one of another artist.  At the Louvre you saw masterpiece after masterpeice. We were told if you looked at every piece of art at the Louvre 24/7 and spent one minute at each piece, it would take you 29 days!

I think the Louvre is a place I would visit each time I went to Paris. I took more pictures at the Louvre but I don't want to bore you!

Next time cruising down the Seine.

The Louvre:

The Inverted Pyramid.  This leads to a parking garage, an underground shopping mall and some places to dine.

Aphrodite of Melos, known as the Venus De Milo.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace. c. 190 B.C.

This monument commemorated a Rhodian naval victory.  Victory was originally stood on a base in the shape of a ship's prow in a sanctuary at the top of a cliff.

Notice the shape of the wings.  Victory in Greek was Nike.  This statue was the inspiration of Nike's trademark.  Isn't that cool? 

More of the Louvre later. 

I have work to do before the weekend begins.

Have a great weekend and try not to get wet.  This might be a good weekend to work on paper projects!

                                                                     

We spent one night on the boat, in Paris, before cruising down the Seine River.

The view from the deck of the boat.

The Eiffel Tower in front of the boat and the Statue of Liberty behind us.  The Eiffel Tower was lit up and every hour on the hour for 10 minutes there was a light show.  It was awesome!  The Statue of Liberty is very small compared to the one in New York.

Our last day in Paris before we set sail, Suzette and I went shopping at Chanel and made our purchases.  On the same street was the US Embassy, which we were not allowed to photograph.  Also the Presidential Palace where the French President and Family lives.  We could stand right across the street with the journalists and take pictures.

The afternoon was spent touring the Louvre.
Pictures of the masterpieces next time.

More from France...

Did the exciting stuff today like buying a new matress and going to Dierbergs (for those from outside St. Louis, grocery store)!  Came home and worked on stuff for Preschool.  It always feels good to get done what you need to have done!

More pics from my trip:

Waiting for the Metro. 

Musee de Orsay

Napolean's Tomb

Notice the size compared to people in background.



The outside to Napolean's Tomb.

I had a wonderful day taking classes from Wendy Vecchi.  What an amazing talent and a sweetie-pie to boot! 

More pictures from Paris:

This plaque is on too many schools in Paris.  It tells all who pass by that children were taken from this school by the Nazis and taken to "camps".  Chilling.

Les Tuileries: The garden between the Louvre and the Champs Elysees

Boats children sail in the pond.

                                                           Eating lunch in the Garden.

Loved it.  I felt very French!

More in days to come!

Finally...

I have been sick most of the week, so I've taken the time to update my blog and catch up on some stuff at home when I'm awake.

I'll be putting pictures on the blog from different aspects of my trip.  First a little background information. I went to France with my life long friend, Suzette.  We've been friends since we were 3 & 4.  We met at dancing school.  We never went to the same school.  Different elementary, high schools, and colleges.  She had a MBA and I got a Masters in Education.  I had children and she did not.  But we have remained friends throughout our lives.  Here are a few pictures from Paris:

Still can't figure out how to turn the pictures on the blog!

I also have a big announcment that I will be making soon.  I'm very excited about it!