The Crazy Canucks riding the open air tour bus in Paris in late December

Paris in less than two days - Episode Ten

Following our short but amazing tour of the Louvre, we undertook another short tour, on the tour bus. While trying to make earphones work in the frigid air, we huddled together on the top level of the open air bus. We shivered with glee as we crossed Paris' oldest bridge, across the River Seine and arrived at a courtyard in front of the Cathedral de Notre Dame.

We had pre-paid for the tour bus, but until we arrived in Paris, we didn't know that it kind of went in the wrong direction for what we wanted to accomplish each day. We relied, instead, on the Metro system to get quickly to Eiffel, the Arc de Triomphe and the museums. But, now we finally had an opportunity to use our non-refundable tour bus passes. It was dark, it was incredibly cold, but we used them and had a lot of fun doing so.

Loving the Louvre

Paris in less than two days - Episode Nine

Less than two days to do Paris? No problem. How about less than two hours to do the Louvre? Well... let's do it anyway.

As the unofficial tour guide for our group's visit to the Louvre (big mistake - I had never been there myself), I was pushing for us to find the underground entrance with the ticket machines and shorter lines. Well, it was a good idea, but I had no idea that entering through the Glass Pyramid actually took us to the ticket machines and the short lines. Anyway, we got in okay.

It was a marvelous experience for everyone in the group. I was particularly enamoured with seeing the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. The other displays were also wonderful and just being in the building with its ornate architecture was thrilling. It was not enough time to do it justice, but I am so glad that we made the effort to go there. It was definitely worth it.