Lovin' the Louvre

Expecting the promised two-hour queues for tickets, we braced ourselves and headed off to the Louvre for the day. Here's a handy tip - when you leave the Louvre Metro station, look out for the little gift shop that sells entry tickets - with a queue of about 5 people for 3 ticket sellers, so only a 2 minute wait. That not only means you avoid the ticket queue, but you also get priority at the entry itself, so skip two queues!! What holiday luck to find that by accident!
The Louvre was so much better than we expected - although there were thousands of people there, you could still get close to nearly all the major pieces, with the only exception being the Mona Lisa, and we still managed to easily get to the barriers for that. There were plenty of comfortable seats available in most galleries, toilets that didn't have queues, and cafes dotted around the galleries. So we easily managed to see the major pieces we were interested in, and enjoy the whole experience. Ann couldn't resist accosting a handsome young man she met down in the mediaeval basement - amazing how she can spot an Essendon supporter anywhere! So as we moved through the galleries, he was updating us with scores being texted by his brother at the game (unfortunately bad news though).
After the museum, we couldn't resist the fun fair outside, braving the ferris wheel (check out our photos on Flickr!), and continued the relaxing day in the Tuileries gardens. We capped off the day with dinner at our local pub (under our hotel room), where our charming waiters are now giving us French pronunciation lessons!