The first snafu of our trip occurred when I went to the metro station (literally across the street from our AirBnB) with the intent to buy all of us Navigo Easy passes. I found the Philippe Auguste station easily, but there was a metal gate blocking the entrance…no! I eventually figured out that there were some maintenance issues, and the station was not in operation (thankfully it returned to normal the next day). Our only alternative was to walk several long blocks to the nearest station that sold passes (Nation).

Unfortunately, we were unable to make our reservations at Musee de l’Orangerie since it took us longer than expected to arrive at our AirBnB. Therefore, we headed straight to dinner.

Happy Caffe

If you are looking for a place to eat near the Louvre, I would recommend Happy Caffe. The service is quite friendly and the person who took our order spoke English. We ordered baguette sandwiches and crepes to go.

This crepe had cheese, tomato, spinach and egg and was very tasty.

We brought our food across the street and ate in the picturesque Tuileries Garden. Luckily, we found some metal chairs in a somewhat shady area.

The Louvre

We had timed tickets for The Louvre for 6:30 p.m. on Friday night (the museum closes at 9:45 p.m. on Fridays). Even so, we had to wait a good 15-20 minutes in order to get through security. We had to throw out our water bottles before entering (although water was allowed in all of the subsequent museums that we visited).

Once we were inside the pyramid, we still had to show our tickets to be admitted. The ticket taker asked to see k’s ID to prove that she was under 18 (and eligible for free admission). She did not have her driver’s license at that time (now she does!) and I did not read anything that said this was necessary. Fortunately, I still had her passport on me, so he let her in. Phew! Again, this was the only museum where this was an issue.

So, where does one begin when seeing the largest museum in the world for the first time? (D was the only in our party who had been before).

We decided to follow the signs (and crowds) to the Mona Lisa, because why not? There was a long queue to get up close and personal, but I thought that standing off to the side gave us a perfectly adequate view.

Directly across from the Mona Lisa is a masterpiece by Veronese, Wedding Feast at Cana. It felt like the Louvre was as crowded as the depicted wedding feast!

k was excited to see Liberty Leading the People, a painting she had learned about in her world history class.

We started to feel stuffy with so many people, and no air conditioning. This air duct gave us minimal relief. It made us realize how much we take air conditioning for granted in California.

We also tried to take a rest whenever there was an open seat.

Each hallway seemed to lead to another endless hallway filled with priceless artwork.

The Louvre can feel overwhelming, but I was satisfied with the amount we were able to take in.

I wanted to take a cool nighttime picture of the pyramid, but alas, sunset was not until close to 10 p.m. and it was not lit up when we exited. This was the scene right outside the Louvre around 9 p.m. I was aware that Europeans eat dinner later, but it was still baffling to see (our family sometimes goes out to eat dinner at 4:45 p.m., which I know is ridiculously early to most!)

We also caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! It was refreshing to witness all these people relaxing on a warm summer night in Paris. However, since we were fighting jetlag, we called it a night. We headed back to the Metro, and had another long walk (since the closest station was still not in operation). We also stopped in a Franprix right before it closed to buy water and fruit. Bonne nuit!

We successfully met up with our driver at the airport and he drove us to our AirBnB in the 11th arrondissement during Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. I was relieved to see that the apartment was just as fabulous in real life as it appeared in the listing. The only aspect that came somewhat as a a surprise was the long spiral staircase that we had to traverse to make it to our second story accomodations.

Living Area/Kitchen

Bedrooms/Bathrooms

The toilet was located in a separate water closet right next door.

This is the room where my mom stayed.

Courtyard

After we quickly settled in, it was time for our first outing in Paris!

Last month we fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams: we visited Paris and London! After months of planning, I was ready to embark on our European adventure.

We took an Uber to LAX and had no problems going through security.

Our 5:10 p.m. flight was on time. It was convenient that we did not have to wake up super early to arrive at the airport. Of course, we had plenty of time to spare. I would much rather be waiting around with nothing to do than to be frantically running through the airport to catch a flight.

Our Comfort+ seats came with a travel kit that had earplugs, toothbrush/toothpaste, and eye mask.

Since this was a redeye flight, the pillow and blanket were especially appreciated.

We managed to pack everything into carry-on luggage.

My mom and youngest sister also came along. Unfortunately, my dad was unable to make the trip with us. This made me very sad, but I also realized it was probably for the best.

This was the dinner that we were served. The caprese salad was ok, but I did not eat too much of the grains. The chicken, which tasted like Indian curry, was on the dry side. Overall, the food was not bad, but I started to feel motion sickness right before receiving it. Therefore, I did not enjoy dinner to its full potential. I just tried to relax and watched A Man Called Otto with Tom Hanks.

As luck would have it, we had a crying baby in the row behind us. It was difficult to sleep, but I managed to get a couple of hours, at least? n found the open snack bar in the back of the plane, so he was happy to have multiple midnight snacks.