Paris Day 3- Doctor Visit, Louvre, Tuileries Garden, Place de la Concorde, and Orsay

Tuesday night I knew my sister wasn't feeling well. She was always looking for somewhere to sit during out cooking class and she had me checking her throat because she felt the same way she had a month ago when she has strep throat. I was PRAYING she didn't have that since it's VERY contagious. That night she had a raging fever and by morning I knew she was sick and needed to see a doctor. I called the front desk and told them my sister was very sick and needed to see a doctor. They asked me how old my sister was and what her symptoms were and then said the doctor would be here in 45 minutes! Impressive. I was so shocked that we didn't have to go somewhere and how nice that Rebecca could just stay in bed and sleep until the doctor arrived. He came, checked her throat, took vitals and then prescribed her pain pills and antibiotic. He gave me the prescription and told me to just find one of the many pharmacies down the street. He charged us 80 Euros (less than $150) for an in home visit! LOVE it. I went down the street with SP and filled the prescriptions and that was about 14.50 Euros. So cheap. I was LOVING the French Health Care System. So much better than what we have in the US where you have to prove you have insurance and if not then you have to go to the ER and pay a fortune. I much prefer the French way. :-)

Rebecca was really bummed about being sick and so was I. The doctor told us that hopefully in 24 hour she would be feeling better but definitely 48 hours. Our plan was to hit up the museums so Rebecca told me I should go on my own. She had been to the Louvre before when she came. She wanted to go again but at least she had been there. I was really nervous about getting lost in the city without Rebecca but took a deep breath and told myself I could do it. So glad we had already spent two days traveling the Metro so I had it figured out (look at the last stop to know which direction you need to go). I bundled up SP and decided to take the stroller since I was the only one going and couldn't trade with the pack if needed. That was not the best choice now after having been there. The louvre is FULLY of all these half, quarter staircases without elevator access to all of them...at least not easy access. I was trying to follow "Rick's" tour and spent about an hour trying to figure out where it started using the elevator going up and down and up again. I finally gave up and started carried the stroller up and down all the stairs. What a workout! I was so exhausted by the time I left the museum. That place is HUGE! It's hard to even comprehend. I was grateful to have SP with me. Even though she was a baby it made me not feel so alone. She was GREAT and went to sleep easily too. I fed her twice while there and she did great. Surprisingly I thought I would see more women breastfeeding but I never saw one. Lots of bottles though. I was hoping they didn't have a law about it that I didn't know but it seemed okay (at least I wasn't arrested).

Views of from the Inside of the Lourve looking out

The Famous PyramidsI entered the Louvre by the inverted one. There were a group of Asians there and they all came over to take pictures of SP and a few of themselves with her. It was too funny. I guess they like the white babies. She is a cute one. I also got to just hurry through the metal detectors due to the baby again. I would have thought they would be even more careful since it was the museum but not really.

The Denon

I spent most of my time in this wing of the building. Most of the famous piece of art are here. I could have gotten VERY lost here. There was room and room down hall after all which lead to more rooms and halls. Unbelievable the amount of art there.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo

Leonardo da Vinci

There was art EVERYWHERE. Some of my favorites were on the ceilings.
The whole building was a piece of art.

Look really closely at the bottom left picture...can you see the people standing by the picture? There's a head at the farthest left corner...this picture is HUGE as were most of the artwork there.

Mona Lisa

I sat down to feed SP outside the room where the Mona Lisa was and I looked to my right and there were these two pictures there...how funny since I was breastfeeding SP at the time. Thankfully there were so many people there in that area of the museum that SP's slight fussing wasn't bothersome. There were also benches in the middle of the hallways for people to sit on which worked out great for me!

Room after Room

To help SP stay quiet while we were in the museum I gave her my water bottle to suck on/play with.  I was surprised when I checked her to see that she was soaked.  She had actually gotten water all over her.  That's impressive since my water bottle is spill proof and you have to squeeze the the spout with your mouth and then suck up at the same time. 

The Sully

The only portion of the medieval Louvre still visible (bottom right pic and the one with me and SP) Amazing stuff there. Loved seeing the Papyra and other ancient artifacts.

The Richelieu

The Three Graces (top right) and Rembrandt's work

On either side of this wing there were two "outside" type spaces with beautiful sculptures. I truly felt like I was outside. LOVED it thought I was exhausted so I couldn't thoroughly enjoy it. I loved the artist that was featured there at that time. He had the funniest sculptures making crazy faces with hilarious descriptions (bad gas, constipated, amused, bored...)

Since I had SP in the stroller those with a stroller or disabled were able to ride this awesome elevator up to exit the museum since there are only stairs for everyone else. The elevator is a circular platform that goes up around the spiral staircase.

In the "Courtyard" of the Louvre

Tuileries Garden

Took an hour to sit at this pond and watch the kids play with their boats. Fed SP and just soaked in Paris. It was fun to pretend that I might live there while I ate my snacks.

Fun playground with some fun new equipment...made me miss my big kids

Place de la ConcordeAfter I got enough strength after touring the length of the gardens and the Ponte I looked up the Orsay...it was fairly close so I headed that way. I was unhappy to find a nasty walking bridge that had shallow yet deep stairs meaning I got to carry the stroller yet some more. It's funny how when there is a metal bridge everyone puts locks on it. I thought this was the love bridge but we came across that a couple days later. The Orsay didn't allow photos so I only got Van Gogh's pictures outside since he was featured at the time. The museum was under construction so the upper level was closed and then the elevators weren't working. I left frustrated but saw some great art. I figured I would come back again with Rebecca.

Beautiful Sunset (outlining the Eiffel Tower)
as I crossed back over the Gardens to get to the Metro