Day 1: Bumps, Hiccups & The Louvre

I mentioned to Jen to just plan on a few hiccups and bumps during our trip together, because they happen.  Always do.  Then we won't get too worked up about it.  Come what may and love it, right?  We've learned if you can't roll with it, then traveling just isn't fun!  And notice I said traveling, not vacationing?  I often feel the need for a beach vacay with a good book after traveling, but I can't be too greedy!!!

Well, I didn't expect our bumps and hiccups to hit from the GETGO!  Oh but they did.  As we got ready to catch the tram to the train station early on Saturday morning, I got a text from Jen saying their flight was delayed.  Instead of getting in around noon, they wouldn't land until 5:00pm!  Oh no!!!  Plenty of cancellations and delays and trying to get on new flights!  The headache.  That just really stinks.  

So, on the tram, Joe and I were discussing how we could rearrange a few things on the itinerary.  We were to meet them in Paris and hit the Louvre right away, but we would be doing that solo this time around.  

As we stepped off the tram and headed toward the train station to catch our bullet train to Paris, I asked Joe for my purse.  He had been holding it as we were running to catch the tram with all of our luggage and stroller, etc...  He looked at me with panic and I froze.  My purse, with my wallet, my new phone, all of my passes for the trams and trains and everything was in that purse.  The only thing that wasn't was my passport.  THANK HEAVENS.  My black purse was sitting pretty on a seat in a tram that had pulled away minutes before.  I felt like I was going to throw up.  We went into the station to report it and then we had to run to catch our train! Seriously, we are always running. 

As we sat there, I was just sick.  And then Joe said, "Wait!  You're phone is in there.  Let's try calling it!"  So we did.  And what happened next is something that only happens in Switzerland (I'm exaggerating of course, but this is something I ADORE about this country).  A man picked up on the other end and in our very broken German, we explained we were the owners of the purse.  Yes, indeed, he had it.  And he was on his way to Barfüsserplatz right at that very moment to return my purse to the lost and found.  I almost cried.  

(When I went to pick up my purse after our Paris weekend, 2 days later, I had a 20 Franc bill that was peaking out of one of the side pockets.  It was still there.  Everything was there.  That was the greatest blessing!  I was so relieved and so grateful for the honesty and safety that this country is known for).

So we had a few hurdles on both ends to get the trip off to a great start!  

We arrived in Paris and got settled into the hotel and then headed straight for the Louvre. 

Mack already getting comfy, while we were grabbing some food before starting to explore.
 I think he sensed we would be in here for a while ;)

We promised the kids we would only show them some highlights in the museum to keep them interested, so we did a quick walk-by shoot of Venos de Milo...

And paused for the INCREDIBLE Nike (The Winged Victory of Samothrace)

Kate realized she was wearing a Nike sweatshirt, and so we had to document it!

And then we headed, with the rest of the world, to see Mona Lisa...

We stayed for all of 7 minutes and continued on.  Great to see her in "person," but too many people!

We walked down hall after hall of amazing artwork...

And one of us in our family decided to start making memes about certain famous pieces that left us all laughing...Again, we like art and museums, but do to our family dynamics, we have to keep things light and fun and short!

At this point, we were already witnessing some slumping shoulders and a whining song of, "How much longer?"  I had to do something drastic! 
HEAD FOR THE MUMMIES!!!!!

And so we did.

The Egyptian Antiquities are always good for a little boost of energy

 Especially the mummy of a man.  This was something else.  I was in complete awe. 

Here's a backstory I found that made me smile:  
This mummy is of Neru, an upper middle-class guy from about 250 BC, during the Ptolemaic dynasty ("P-tol-a-maik"), which started with Alexander's general Ptolemy and ended with Cleopatra. By then, mummification wasn't just for royalty any more. Neru's main organs, except his heart, were put in the jars you see. The body was put in salt to dry up, then covered with resin and aromatic oils, then wrapped in cloth. Neru wears a necklace with sister goddesses Nephtys ("Neff-tis") and Isis on it. They represent his experiences of death and rebirth in the afterlife. It also has the 4 sons of another god, Horus, who protect his 4 organs in the jars. Now off goes Neru into the afterlife, a difficult journey with many tasks and some judgments. The jackal-headed guy at his feet is Anubis, the god of mummification and and also the guy who will weigh his heart: if it's heavy, Neru's been bad, so he's thrown to to a croc-hippo-lion combo beast that'll eat him. Otherwise, he parties with the gods.

The jars below him held all of his vital organs.

When we were homeschooling, I taught the kids all about the Code of Hammurabi, the stone tablet that is the best preserved ancient law code and was created in 1760 BC in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth Baylonian king, Hammurabi.  I didn't realize it was in the Louvre, so when I saw it on the map, we had to go check it out!!!  Look at all of the inscriptions covering the entire piece! Truly unbelievable that it was preserved so well.  

 

And then we decided to stop by and see these Persian statues that once adorned the Iranian Palaces.  There were art docents handing out little notebooks and pencils for anyone who would like to take a little time to draw some pieces that were interesting to him or her.  Of course the boys jumped on this!  I wish I would have thought of this at the BEGINNING of our time at the museum.  It would have kept the kids enthralled for hours! 

 Now, as we were nearing the end of our time, they didn't want to leave!!!

But all it took was one text from the Hansens, letting us know that they had arrived, and we dropped everything and ran back to the hotel to meet them.  We couldn't wait to see them!!!!