Follow our journey on this map.

Day 43 was an easy day with just the Louvre and a dinner cruise planned.

I started the day at the café across the street. It was just me, the owner and some pigeons. It was so interesting to see the neighborhood come alive on a beautiful Saturday morning.

We got mobilized at about 10AM and made our way to an interesting café we had seen the day before. On the way we had David pose with his two favorite things in Paris: Iced Tea and la boucherie. After a “full breakfast” we headed out. In the rain.

Our first stop was to be Notre Dame since we would be in the neighborhood. As we were walking from the Metro we ran across the most spectacular little church: Church of Saint-Séverin. It is a Gothic church with an ornate facade, striking stained-glass windows and a 13th-century bell tower. We discovered it only because a small tour group was exiting. It’s an active church with an unbelievably warm feeling.

The rain had stopped by the time we got to Notre Dame. The construction is moving along but it’s really going to take some time. Nothing is open to the public and it was difficult to get any interesting photos, but we tried.

Back to the Metro for a short hop to the Louvre.

The rain started again as we waited in line. Once we entered, we split up to explore on our own. Because Mae and I have been to the Louvre before, we just wandered a bit making sure that we went to see the Mona Lisa. We weren’t the only ones with that plan😊We skirted the line and snapped a shot of Mae pointing at the picture. And then Lynn got one of me taking that photo of Mae. See below.

We thought 3 hours in the museum would be enough. It turned out to be too long and too short at the same time. I knew we were kindred spirits when I texted a picture of Mae and me having a beer and chips on one of the museum’s balcony cafés. Lynn immediately texted a picture back of them doing the same thing on the opposite side balcony. Then Brad sent one of them sitting in the lobby café. Time to go!

The rain had stopped; this time for the evening.

Because we had a dinner reservation at 9PM we stopped at another café Ashlea spotted on the way out. Simple snacks turned out to be a lot more. And boy was it good!

After a few of us took naps we headed out for our river cruise. We spent more than 2 hours on the water. The food was good and the sights were spectacular.

The trip back to the condo was a fun, joyful escapade. Maybe it was just the culmination of a nice evening. Maybe it was the bottle of champagne and 2 bottles of wine. Not sure.

Tomorrow is another open day with nothing planned. Let’s see what unfolds…