Birthday with Mona Lisa

Celebrating ones birthday in Paris certainly does sound romantic. And although in reality it isn't quite as romantic as it might sound, it was a good day.

We had not told our hosts that it was to be my birthday, so my day started as the previous day. We needed some items at the market and wanted to see another one that we hadn't yet been to. Janis bought me some yellow rosebuds, they were lovely. He also bought me a pair of feminine gloves, which I had liked.

I had told Janis before we even left Latvia that I wanted to go shopping on my birthday. I wanted to see what was sold in the city which seems to lead the world in fashion. We caught the metro to a road where there is lots of shops, boutiques, etc. We decided to investigate what one of the expensive stores would be like and headed on in. It was fun to look at the various floors of  expensive items. I enjoyed the kitchen gadgets and kids clothes. There were some not so expensive things too, as well as the very expensive designer clothes and jewelry like Gucci and Prada.

We didn't buy anything of course, but at least we got warmed up on a cool day :)  We did enjoy a wonderful French pastry and real hot chocolate in a little cafe during our shopping escapades.

As evening approached we decided we must choose a restaurant to celebrate my birthday at. Most restaurants in Paris seem very tiny and cramped for space. We were looking for a kid friendly place, with room for a double stroller. We ended up finding a cute place, but didn't realize until we sat down that it was an Italian, not French restaurant. Oh well, I guess we can someday eat French food when we visit Italy, LOL!

The food was fantastic, I enjoyed real creme brulle! YUM! Daniel was tired and noisy, but full of kisses for Mamma on her birthday.

After our delicious meal we headed to the Louvre. From 18 -22:00 the tickets are cheaper there on Wednesdays. The museum was immense, and interesting. The building itself is impressive. My feet were killing me and I couldn't enjoy the museum. We decided I must take my shoes off and go around in my socks. When we found a quiet corner I hid my boots in the stroller and strolled the rest of the evening around the museum sock footed. I had a long skirt and no one even noticed. I felt so funny wander the halls of such a magnificent building in my socks, it made me feel rather at home :)

I enjoyed getting to see the painting of Mona Lisa. But I was shocked how small the painting is. Opposite her is a painting that spans an entire wall and I would say is at least 30-40 feet in length. There are lots of other lovely paintings and exhibits in the museum as well. In fact we only saw a small portion of the museum due to its enormity.


The evening ended with both kids falling asleep in the stroller. Our hosts also promised to make us Spanish food when learning it had been my birthday.

With Mona Lisa and Daniel :)