Tuesday, May 7
We got a slow start this morning as we knew that we had a shorter day than some (besides Michael hasn't been sleeping well, therefore neither have we).  Our Metro ride took us to the Place de la Concorde.  Although the name now means Place of Peace, this was the sight where the guillotine was during the first revolution.  Napoleon placed an Egyptian obelisk from 13th century BC here in 1829.  It is also useful for telling time as there are numbers on the traffic circle around it.  It acts as a huge sundial.
 
From there we walked along the Champs-Elysees to the Petit and Grand Palais.  Inside the Grand Palais, we went to the Hands on Science Museum.  We had a lot of fun here (Andrew didn't want to leave), but it was above both of the children.  More for high school age.  Still, we had a good time pushing buttons.
 
After the museum, we lunched at an outdoor cafe on the Champs-Elysees (how European!!)  We then strolled along (past two or three McDonald's) until we reached the Arc de Triomphe.  There is a traffic circle around it with 13 streets coming in.  6 lanes of traffic!!  It was amazing to watch.  Before we went up in the Arc, we visited the tomb of the unknown soldier, which is directly under the arc.  There is an eternal flame, and while we were there, an honor guard stood by.
 
We then went up in the Arc.  Here is a tip, if you want a neat sight, take a stroller with you to the Arc.  We got to ride in the elevator in one of the legs.  It has a glass top, so you get a really neat view up and down.  (The stroller also got us right into the Musee d'Orsay.)  The view of Paris from the top was awesome!  It is high enough that you can see all of the major landmarks of Paris.  There is also a museum at the top about the planning and building of the Arc.  It was funny to see some of the ideas suggested, including an elephant shaped arc.  Very strange.
 
After riding the cool elevator back down.  We decided that it was still early enough to take a trip up the Eiffel Tower.  We rode the Metro over, and while Andrew and David waited in line (all of five minutes), Michael and Amy watched the fountains at the Palais de Chaillot across the river and the ducks in the pond next to the tower.  Andrew and David rode the double-decker elevator up the first third of the tower to the second etage.  Then they waited for the elevator to take them the rest of the way up.  The view was spectacular from the outside observation deck.  Andrew was surprised, however, to feel it swaying in the wind.  (by the way, there is a nurse at the top floor for anyone who has any problems)  Gustave Eiffel has (had?) and office at the top where he entertained important guests (like Thomas Edison).
 
Well, tomorrow is another museum day so off to bed.
 
Wednesday, May 8
After a long Metro ride, we arrived at the Place de la Bastille where the revolutionaries stormed at the beginning of the revolution.  There were only seven prisoners at the time, but it became the rallying cry of the war.  There is a monument there now commemorating Frenchmen who died in the third revolution.
 
We then headed to the Place des Vosges, a square of town homes built by Henry IV as his personal residence.  It is now a nice park surrounded by peoples homes and businesses.  We tried to see the Carnavalet Museum, which features the revolution, but they were closed and only having private showings.  How rude!!  So instead, we went to the Picasso Museum.  We had a great time here.  Andrew is very good at figuring out what the sculpture or painting was off, which is sometimes difficult with Picasso.  The employees were very nice and extremely friendly.  David thinks that some of them looked like Picasso paintings, though.
 
After dining at the outdoor garden cafe at the museum (the boys had fun feeding the birds), we went in search of the Pompidou Center.  (We decided to skip the Hunting Museum.)  The Pompidou Center looks like it is built inside out.  It is very out of place amongst all the old Parisian buildings.
 
After the Pompidou Center, we walked through the Forum des Halles.  This used to be a big hole in the ground that they have turned into an upside down shopping center.  The center is open, and the shops are built in levels around the outside.  It was a very interesting mall.
 
On our way to the Louvre, we stopped at the Church of St-Eustache.  Even with all of the beautiful cathedrals we have seen, we were very impressed by this one.  It was very large, and the stained glass windows were different from any others we have seen.  They are more like paintings while the others are more like mosaics.  King Louis XIV had his first communion here, and Cardinal Richelieu was baptized here.
 
Then we finally reached the Louvre.  It is massive!!  I think that you could spend a week here and not see all it has to offer.  Thanks to the stroller again, we got right in (we never have to wait to buy tickets thanks to the museum pass, but occasionally, you have to wait to enter the building).  We picked a few highlights that we wanted to see (the boys were tired, so we had a limited amount of time).  First we went to see Venus de Milo, stopping to see Greek Statuary on the way.  Andrew was impressed by Hercules and Zeus, while actually seeing the Venus de Milo was incredible.  We then went off in search of the Mona Lisa.  We stumbled across the Winged Victory on the way.  Did you know that she once had arms?  We saw her right hand.  Anyway, we walked amongst a bunch of Italian paintings (There was one by Annibale Carracci that moved Amy to tears) until we found the Mona Lisa at the end of a hall.  She is behind a lot of protective glass and is very small, but we still got a good view.
 
Then we went to see the Coronation Crown of Louis XV. Andrew is even more determined now to be a king when he grows up.  There is also a case for storing and transporting the crown.  Dave calls it "Crown Luggage."
 
On the way out, we went down to the Medieval Louvre.  This is actual walls of the  original castle built on this site.  There are also artifacts that have been discovered during excavations.  This part even included a dungeon.  Pretty cool.  Andrew was very impressed.  He loves dungeons!!
 
After the Louvre, we walked a little through the Tuleries (The Louvre's Gardens).  They were very lovely, but we all liked watching the children sail boats on the fountain the center.  When the boats are blown too close to the sides, the children push the boats back into the center with sticks.  Every once in a while, a boat gets too close to the fountain in the center and is capsized in a "rain storm."  Don't worry, they bounce back.
 
We took our last Metro ride back to the hotel and ate a real dinner in the restaurant here.  We have enjoyed our stay in Paris immensely.  Our trip will go more slowly after this as we tour Normandy and Brittany.