Today was a really busy day. We started out the day the same as we have every day this week, a trip to the boulangerie for croissants and baguette. We then headed to the Louvre armed with our 2-day museum pass (this was the 2nd day of the pass so we had to take full advantage). For those who don't know about the museum pass it gets you admission to many museums (but not all) in Paris and if you have one you avoid the long crazy lines that exist because July is a high tourist season in Paris. The problem, however is that there are no instructions and it is not always easy or apparent where you need to go to avoid the lines. So after asking a couple museum officials we eventually figured it out and overall we did save time. I had decided that a self-guided tour of the Louvre would be better for the kids, and our sanity. I researched this before coming to France and had printed from the Louvre website a 1 1/2 hour self-guided tour that takes you to all the Masterpieces of the Louvre. After making our way through the crowds to the Mona Lisa we decided to sit and admire the Coronation of Napoleon I and the Crowning of Empress Josephine by David. While contemplating the complexity of painting (the kids were contemplating how long before lunch or better yet ice cream) Andrew noticed a backpack sitting next to us which had been abandoned (someone had been sitting there when we sat down). Andrew told a security guard and moments later, after we had already left the room, a mass of security guards descended and cleared that room and moved everyone halfway back in the surrounding rooms (we were in the next room which was partially evacuated). They then carefully removed the backpack. Obviously since you didn't hear anything about the Louvre exploding yesterday everything was fine. The self-guided tour took us about 2 hours and the kids were definitely done by the time we were heading to the last masterpiece, the Michelangelo Slaves sculptures (one of the only Michelangelo's displayed outside Italy). In addition to the above we saw Winged Victory, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix and Venus di Milo among a half dozen other greats.

After lunch and a walk through the Tuileries garden we explored the L'Orangerie which was built for the purpose of displaying the large circular paintings of Monet's Waterlillies. Ten years ago when Andrew and I were in Paris the paintings were in the basement, since then they have renovated the building and the paintings are now displayed on the main floor with glazed skylights above, which is beautiful. After seeing the Waterlillies we are so excited to go to Giverny and explore the gardens which were Monet's inspiration.

Finally we headed back to our apartment, dropped off Linsey and the kids and Andrew and I went on a date to hear Paul Simon at the Palais des Congres (about a 4,000 seat arena, which was nearly sold out). We had a wonderful dinner before, the concert was great and we discovered the Parisiens love Paul Simon as much as we do in America. A' bientot.