The first day in Paris was an early one. We got up around 6:30 to be at the Louvre right when it opened and thank goodness we did. It gets so crowded and awful later in the day it was nice to have a relatively calm introduction to the museum and get to see the Mona Lisa without a zillion people taking pics around you.

Yeah, taking pictures. In the museums in Paris you can take non flash pictures of just about everything which really surprised me. I wish they didn't allow it cause it makes people slow and clogs up the museums more than they already are. and a non flash picture isn't going to come out very well in most cases anyway but people don't know they so they go around snapping pictures of every single thing. Silly.

After the Louvre we grabbed some lunch where I learned that soda is an expensive rip off in Paris - 3.50 euros for a regular sized soda! But the panini I had was good. Then we walked over down the Champs Elysees towards the Arc d'Triumph. The Arc was commissioned by Napoleon to honor his army or something and it was marched through by the Nazis taking over Paris and the Allies liberating it during WWII. We went up to the top of the Arc and got a great panoramic view of the city as well.

That night I was exhausted and headed to bed pretty early.