2022 – France – Day 4

Sunday August 28^th

We took the Metro into the heart of the city (again) and had another 2 hour walking tour. We saw the spot where King Henry IV was assassinated, and we walked along a street named Rue Montorgueil. There are lots of shops and restaurants on that very medieval looking street. One of the shops is the world’s oldest pastry store and dates to 1730. The street itself is made of cobblestones, and although cars do drive along it, pedestrians are too numerous to permit more than a few cars.

Next we went to the Louvre. We spent a couple of hours there and didn’t even see 1% of everything. It’s immense. We did see the Mona Lisa, the Winged Nike of Samonthrace, and the Crown jewels of France. One of the rooms in the Louvre is filled with royal treasures– tea sets, urns, jewelry, etc. Makes you wonder how all that stuff survived the Revolution. I wish we could have spent several days studying the collections, but we just didn’t have the time. I had seen photos of the Winged Nike many times, but something I didn’t know about it is that it was designed to be seen from only one side.

The place where King Henry IV (of France) was assassinated:

The world’s oldest pastry shop, on Rue Montorgueil, founded in 1730. The gal with the red satchel is Linda, our tour guide:

The Mona Lisa room– this is as close as I got to it:

Some of the royal jewels– one wonders how they survived the Revolution:

More jewels: