What better way to lift our spirits than a stop at a pâtisserie on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. After a quick view of the Arc de Triomphe, which is under renovation at the moment, we took a stroll down the famous avenue before our visit to the Louvre this morning. During our ninety minute private tour, we were not able to see all of the more than 35,000 works on display in the museum, but we did see many of the most famous ones, including the Winged Victory of Samothrace and, of course, Da Vinci's signature painting, La Joconde. We had to fight off French school children and hundreds of other tourists, but we did manage to get a few good pictures of the Mona Lisa and her famous smile.
We glided up and out of the Louvre via I.M. Pei's glass pyramid for more photo opportunities and lunch in the Tuilieries Gardens. The weather has been sunny and warm these last few days and the shady garden provided us with a leafy canopy to protect us from the hot, northern sun that doesn't set until 10 p.m. !
Aided by the expert advice of a helpful Daniélou teacher, we shopped at some of the trendiest shops near the Place Vendôme, including Vanessa Bruno and Repetto. Then we were off to number 24, rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, the headquarters and showcase store of the Hermès brothers, the famous saddle makers who founded their business in 1810. There we learned at least 25 different ways to tie the famous Hermès scarf and were also treated to a demonstration of tradional saddle-making - still done by hand. Each girl received a souvenir bag with sample Hermès products, which we proudly toted for the rest of the day. We're becoming pros at navigating the métro system and the French families have been very gracious to carpool us back and forth to the suburban RER link not too far from the school. Another glorious day!
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