What would a trip to Paris be without seeing the iconic symbol of love, the Eiffel Tower!!! We walked to the local Metro subway and rode out to the nearest stop by the Eiffel Tower. But where was it? Once above ground we walked a few blocks, but couldn’t seem to find it. Until… voilà we rounded the corner and hidden in a dense fog we saw the bottom of the tower!

As we walked closer more of the upper tower became visible. We walked out in front of the Tour Eiffel into the Champ de Mars (gardens that are in front of the tower). Before doing so we went up to the base and gazed at the amazing metalwork. It was very impressive. While there a nice lady named Crystal, from Australia, offered to take our family photo. I in turn took a photo of her and her friends.

Further out in the gardens we were able to see more of the Eiffel Tower. Faywen wanted to take a photo of Robert and I kissing under the “Tower of Love”. Liam and Seamus decided to photo bomb our romantic moment! We all had a good laugh, and Faywen took another photo of us without the boys.

On our way to the Champs-Elysées we passed by a multi-million dollar apartment with a view of the Tour Eiffel and what did Robert eye in the window, but a Garfield plush toy suctioned cupped to the windowpane of the balcony doors! We found something else interesting on our walk to the Champs and Arch de Triomphe…a Congolese passport in the middle of a cross walk. Robert picked it up and he turned it in at a local police station. The station was located just across the Alexander III Bridge and in front of a large statue of Charles De Gaul. The statue is the beginning of the Champs-Elysées. The first part of this famous road is lined with trees and a garden. The second half has beautiful buildings and high-end shops. It’s the 5^th Ave of France.

A quick view down the street at the Arch de Triomphe and then we crossed the street and walked through the Jardin des Tuilleries to the Museé du Louvre at the other end. Of course we had done a lot of walking by this point, so we sat down on a classic Parisian bench for a wee respite. Later we took another rest sitting by a beautiful fountain reflecting pool. We could just see the Louvre off in the distance.

Like Chateau Versailles the Louvre was busy, but not overwhelmingly so. We grabbed a museum map and found our way to the room containing “the world of arts” most famous lady…the Mona Lisa! Surprisingly she isn’t as big a portrait as many believe. She’s rather modest in size, but still very lovely! Another famous lady resides in the Louvre as well…Venus de Milo! She was elegantly poised on a platform. Her white marble form juxtaposed against a lovely brown marble background!

We came across other well know portraits including Raphael’s “St. Michael slaying Satan”, Domenichino’s “St. Cecilia”, and “Portrait of a Young Man” by Bellini. This portrait looked a lot like Liam when he’s in serious contemplation. Robert took a great side-by-side of Liam and the famous painting!’

After admiring all of the beautiful paintings we meandered through the ancient Egyptian and antiquities rooms. Faywen found a remarkably well-preserved statue of Bastet the Egyptian cat-goddess. We discovered that the remaining Crown Jewels of France were also in the museum. We went and had a look, since we had already seen the crown jewels for Scotland and England too! Most of the Crown Jewels of France were destroyed during the French Revolution in the 1790’s.

A few blocks from the Louvre is the Seine River. We decided to walk along the river all the way back to Notre Dame and do a little more last minute shopping. Robert and Liam purchased Laguiole pocketknives. These handmade French knives are known throughout the world for their blades and craftsmanship. Two blocks further on we came across a chocolatier from the 1770’s and finally we ended up at Esmeralda’s for dinner. A lovely little café situated on the corner overlooking Notre Dame. The kids had been asking to try real French escargot and Esmeralda’s had it on the menu. The kids have had French Canadian escargot, which is served in melted warm cheese. Parisian escargot is prepared in melted butter, herbs, and eaten straight out of the shell! They were delicious! All the kids loved the escargot! The rest of our meal was delicious too.

On the way back to the hotel Robert spotted a real Parisian rat. Yes, Remy the Rat was hanging out in the Notre Dame Square! A fitting end to our iconic stereotypical tour of Paris!