Postcards from Paris: The Louvre & Luxembourg Gardens

The post-vacation blues are starting to settle in, you guys, so I thought we could remedy that with another round of postcards from Paris — this time from our trip across town to the Luxembourg Gardens and Musée du Louvre.

After a day of getting settled, we started to ease into our mornings with a bit of a routine. I’d get up, walk a block to the nearest coffee to-go shop (a rarity in Paris, we’ve found) and order us flat whites, double espresso shots and croissants.

If there’s one thing we taught the people of Paris, it’s that Americans are highly-caffeinated — and we like to stay that way.

On each walk to-and-from, I remember marveling at how calm, collected and seemingly automated the Paris “rush” hour was. Everyone was quiet, polite, quick in their step and yet not-at-all in a rush. The opposite of New York City, in other words.

We’d take our time getting ready in the morning and often got a late start, but hey, when in Paris… Do as the Parisians do, right?

For that, I blame ongoing jetlag — and, well, wine. So much wine.
Because we drank lots of it.

My most anticipated sightseeing stop (beyond the Eiffel Tower, of course), was the Musée du Louvre — one of the words largest museums and the city’s most iconic monuments. It’s something I’ve Pin’ed many times but never actually seen in-person.

Ironically, it was closed upon arrival, ironically, because Beyonce and Jay-Z were touring it that day. ‘Merica.

This thing is so amazing looking, though, and I must have taken more than 200 photos of just the structure itself. I did my best to edit and share the best-of-the-best with you, but it was tough to narrow.

That golden hour light, though…

Another favorite afternoon anecdote is the lazy mid-week picnic we spent sprawled out in the Jardin du Luxembourg (from the striped ensemble I posted about yesterday).

After taking the Metro (train) across town, we stopped into a few local markets and boulangeries (so freakin’ fun to say) to pick up various supplies for the day’s picnic provisions — so, cheese and carbs. Lots of cheese and carbs. New York’s subway system has well-versed us in handling public transit overseas (not the case for me in Japan, though).

Mid-day espresso shots, of course.

The Luxembourg Gardens are gorgeous — and the best part, of course, was the people watching.

Our most entertaining observations were the various groups of students taking their lunch periods. The public high school kids would sit in circles and feverishly type on their phones, giggle and chain smoke.

So Gossip Girl, but instead of the steps of the Met, they’d sit in the park.

… And, um, so different than my own high school days — where my senior lunch break was spent texting in T9 from my Motorola Razr and blasting Britney from the manually-rolled-down windows of my two-door Chevy Cavalier.

There’s Jess! Here’s what she wore on this day’s excursion…

That’s it for today, but there’s more travel content to come — including photos from Notre-Dame palace and Love Lock bridge, so stay tuned! In the meantime, in case you missed ’em, here’s a few links to more of my posts from Paris:

Postcards, Vol. 1: Eiffel Tower exploring
Personal style/outfits: Practically PJ’s | A striped ensemble | Pretty in Pink

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