Paris day 16. It's raining again

That's right, every day around 5 pm the rain arrives...also the meteo reminds me of California and its sunny weather. But it's ok, I missed the seasons in South Pasadena, and in a few weeks I will finally be able to wear again something made out of wool instead of the 3 layers of cotton!

Anyway, we were able to enjoy a few hours of warm temperature this Saturday so we all went to see the Louvre.

The first surprise was this one: 

Josh couldn't believe his eyes. He thought that the street was named after his school...it would have been nice, but actually the plate refers to the Battle of Marengo ...which is in Piedmont (close to our home Torino)...if you are curious about it, just read here: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_marengo.html

Sorry Marengo Elementary School, there's a more famous and ancient Marengo! But you're still the first, in our heart.

The second surprise was that, despite being in the high-middle season and despite the reviews, the length of the line was less than five minutes. This time I was able to visit the museum...the last time I've been here I ended up in the medical room as soon as I walked through the entrance (kidney stones!). Nothing to say about the doctors and the nurses at the Louvre, but the museum is much better! 

We walked and walked through endless corridors and I realized that in one year I visited the Metropolitan in NY, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and now the Louvre! Wows!
This is the Egyptian Gallery, one of Josh's favorite spots. 

Giuseppe especially appreciated the giant stinky feet of Ramses II.

So here is Josh's comment in front of La Gioconda (aka The Mona Lisa):"It's so small!...Can I touch it?". No, honey, you obviously can't unless you want to verify the security system...and see if Dan Brown got it right in his "Da Vinci code" (btw, no trace of Jacques Saunieres's murder scene in the Grand Gallery).

Giuseppe in front of Arcimboldo's Four Seasons. Who won the price for the biggest nose?

After 3 hours we decided to give up...we still have another year to complete the visit! Of course there was a major thunderstorm waiting for us at the exit but what a better excuse to sneak in a Cafe' and get ourselves a pain au chocolat?

The news about this last few days are that we met the other parents in the Adaptation class and we found out: 1) there is no Chinese, since the kids will struggle with enough French; 2) three other kids are from USA and one is from Italy. Unfortunately the library at the school is only for grown ups so I'll need to enroll us in the American Library in Paris. Too bad. 

Now it's time for me to stop writing and go to bed. I'm exhausted since today I went back to the surgery room, from 8 am to 5.30 pm. I was excited, of course...kind of nice being again a surgeon! Congrats to myself. The good thing about waking up in Paris at 6 am is that the boulangerie in front of us is already open and you can buy excellent croissants, warm and just out of the oven. No Starbucks here!