However, on the way there, I saw these two men sitting next to each other on the Metro. Grey pants/khaki shoes and khaki pants/grey shoes! They weren't even together!
We tried to go in at the mall entrance under the pyramid, but the Museum Pass line was outside. We should have gone to the semi-secret Porte des Lions entrance but I forgot about it. Sigh.
We stood outside for about thirty minutes waiting to get in. Luckily this was the only time during the entire two weeks that it rained.
And then we got in there and oh my god, there were so many people. I would guess at least four times as many as when I was there with my mom in March. Dear everyone, do not go to the Louvre on Monday right after Christmas.
I still like to see this thing, though.
I only took this picture because it was an amazing deserted room.
We spent the most time looking at the oldest stuff, from Egypt and Sumer and places like that. Ben really likes extremely old stuff.
I like the big monument things the best, although there is something unavoidably disconcerting thinking about them having been taken from wherever they were found and set up in a European museum.
The Mona Lisa room was totally crazy. What are all these people DOING. We didn't even walk inside there, I took this from the hallway.
After the Mona Lisa room, the European painting section thinned out considerably and was not horrible to walk through. We went into the (very small, nearly empty) Asian, American, and Oceanic area and saw one of the Easter Island heads. Again, though, why is this in France?
We managed to get out of the Louvre without killing each other or anyone else, and walked through the Tuileries again with the idea of going all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.
It was such a bad idea. There was a giant, supercrowded Christmas market all along the Place de la Concorde and the beginning of the Champs Elysees. It seemed to go on forever and ever, and was utterly filled with aimless wanderers and those fun people who decide to come to a complete and sudden halt right in front of you with no warning. We were close to losing it entirely.
But we made it to the end, finally, and somehow by magic there was a chestnut vendor right there, so we got some piping hot street chestnuts and stood and ate them on the Champs Elysees.
Farewell, horrible Parisian Christmas market!
The Champs Elysees was not much more enjoyable, though. So much strolling. It was pretty, though, still all lit up for the holidays.
WE MADE IT TO THE END!!
Look how happy Ben was.
After that we took completely deserted side streets back toward the river, which was much much better. One block over from the Champs Elysees, there were no people whatsoever. Humanity is weird.
We stopped and got a drink and warmed up for a little bit, then decided to go look at the Eiffel Tower.
Then we went to dinner at Cafe Constant, which my friend had recommended and where I'd eaten with my mom before. It's a tiny and cozy little place and the food is delicious.
They had some Trump commentary.
So that's cool.
We were so tired and so ready to be home after dinner that we finally decided to try Uber, and had someone drive us back to the hotel for 8 Euros. Uber is amazing!
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