Le Louvre

Today was the long-awaited visit to the Louvre!! What a great experience so see so many things you have only read about (or seen in the DaVinci Code!) in person! Not only is the art inside amazing, but the building itself is some fantastic architecture. We saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, pieces from the palace on Mt. Olympus, and paintings and sculptures from every major (and some minor) artist! There are pictures of everything on the flickr link. 

Let me tell you though, if you ever plan to visit the Louvre, be ready for two things: lots of people at the Mona Lisa and lots of walking throughout the museum! So wear comfy shoes, bring a bottle of water and be ready to be patient. 

Speaking of tourists, we all had a long conversation about whether we feel more like tourists or more like locals. The unanimous decision was like locals since most of us has either given directions to a tourist or seen a tourist do something incredibly "un-Parisian". :-) There was a group of young teenage Americans who shoved their way onto the metro with Jenn and me two nights ago. They were yelling and screaming and knocking into people and were utterly rude to everyone. After watching the locals regard them with a steely stare, I chatted with the lady next to me who was surprised to find out I was American and was happy to learn all Americans don't behave like that- an opinion I think she held previously.  So here we are: 12 K-State students trying to improve the reputation of all Americans in Paris! :-)