Day 1 of My European Vacation - CP and S Hit the Louvre

As promised, I'm sharing some details from my recent vacation.  After a half a day of traveling, I met up with S at CDG in Paris and we headed into the city for Day 1 of my European adventure.  We stayed at a hotel in the Louvre district and the museum was within walking distance, so we made it our first destination. 

The pyramid and the line - Unfortunately it was cloudy that day.

Using my Frommer's Paris Day by Day Louvre highlight tour, we hunted through the HUGE museum for a few key pieces.  We also stopped in to check out the Egyptian art exhibit.

Venus De Milo

It took us a while, but we finally found the Venus de Milo.  I find sculptures fascinating.  Drawing is hard enough, but carving something so detailed into stone is just amazing to me.

Another sight you see in the Louvre are the studying artists who taking great care in painting replicas of masterpieces. 

We walked through a maze of exhibits and hallways and finally arrived in front of another beautiful sculpture,  the Winged Nike of Samothrace. It looks like the wind is blowing through the room. 

Of course, we also saw the Mona Lisa, but she was mobbed and a photo really wouldn't do her justice, so I have no photos to share.  =(

Afterwards, I had duck confit at Cafe Flor for dinner.  The food was decent, but it was a strange little place.  S and I were the only two dinner patrons and everyone else was there to buy lottery tickets and cigarettes.