Day 4: Marais District & the Louvre
Garden on walking tour of the Marais District; 10/22/25
Day four started in the Marais District -for most people...
But first! Back to Notre Dame!
A couple of us got up early and made it inside Notre Dame! (tip: the lines are practically non-existent first thing in the morning). It was worth the wait - it was truly glorious! I had seen the photos, but couldn't believe how clean and bright the centuries old cathedral looked. Truly worth the wait (and for this night owl to get up at the crack of dawn). (And special thanks for Mark and Leslie for finding me with the assistance of messages to Rolinka after I wandered out of the church...)
Walking Tour of the Marais
After reuniting, we were off on a brisk walk to meet the rest of the group and our local guide Brad in the Marais District for a wonderful morning of walking around historic neighborhoods.
Arc de Triomphe
We were free for lunch and that afternoon I made my way to the 8th arrondissement for a visit to the Arc de Triomphe and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. I'd stopped by the Arc de Triomphe the afternoon before, but this day I had tickets to climb the stairs to the top!
View to the northwest towards La Grande Arche de la Défense
This was really one of my favorite viewpoints in Paris. Don't let the 284 steps deter you! They're relatively shallow and I found the climb to the top to be much easier than I had expected (and definitely worth it!)
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There was one other motivation for this side trip - many of my grandfather's photos were of the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. I clearly did not inherit my feeling about heights from him! Again - while less than a quarter of the height of the Eiffel Tower, there is still the feeling that little has changed in the landscape as a whole (and there's even still bicyclists that are far, far braver than I circling the Place de l'Étoile), but that feeling changes when you walk down the Champs-Élysées - none of the storefronts in the photos exist any longer.
Arc de Triomphe - I waited a while for the guy to come by on a bike...
Ghosts of the past on the Champs-Élysées
The Louvre!
[or a night at the museum...]
There was some concern as to whether the Louvre would be open for our visit following the weekend's events - but to make an end to a very long and exciting day, we joined the crowds and went to the Louvre, which was open late into the evening. I decided to wait out some of the crowds and explored the antiquities in the Richelieu and Sully wings first (actually explored themt twice, as I got lost and couldn't found my way out until I ran into a tour mate, Jeanne, who convinced me that we just needed to follow the signs that said "Sortie" - there was a moment where we ended up on the lower levels (complete with negative numbers), but did eventually find our way back to the central reception area...
Of course, I had to go see her...
The crowds do thin out quite a bit if you wait a while (and/or get lost...)
But, really, I was heading for Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix. This painting was in my modern European history book in high school.
A late night - and then back to the hotel to get ready for a train ride in the morning...