Today's forecast was humidity and thunderstorms, so we decided to try a couple of museums, the Paris Sewers Museum and the Louvre.

Our start was thrown into chaos when riot police arrived from everywhere, blocking the Bastille train station, closing off all the surrounding streets, and altogether looking intimidating. On asking one of them what was going on, he used Google Translate to reassure us that we hadn’t done anything wrong, and there wasn’t a terrorist incident. Instead, a major demonstration was planned against the reform to French labour laws, with a march planned from the Bastille to the Place de la Republic. Apparently the working masses didn’t like working 35 hours per week, averaged over a few weeks – they wanted to keep the 35 hours as a maximum each week.

So we moved to the next station, Gare D’Austerliz, and caught a train back to the Eiffel Tower. We then walked to the Sewers Museum, which sounded interesting from a number of reviews, however unfortunately it was closed on Thursdays – great planning James.

All was not lost as we enjoyed a much more pleasant (cool but not yet raining) walk east along the Seine. We first passed Pont Alexandre III bridge, widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city, with statues and gold. The bridge has been in a number of movies including A View to a Kill and A Midnight in Paris. Next we passed Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in Paris and the subject of many public executions including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in 1793 for high treason.

Further along we took some photographs from the pedestrian bridge Leopold Segar Senghor, a metallic single span bridge with no piers. This bridge seems to have become the new “Lovers’ Bridge” as it was covered in padlocks.

Opposite this bridge we entered the Tuileries Garden, another beautiful park where you’re not allowed to sit or lie down on the grass, but it is okay to sit on a chair provided on the grass. The kids played on another, thankfully free, playground whilst I fetched a couple of decedent hot chocolates from over the road at Angelina's (one of Paris’ most famous patisseries).

We then tackled the Louvre. We knew it was enormous and had low expectations ie. just to see a couple of things quickly before moving on. Our Paris Pass again gave us free entry and we quickly moved through to see the Mona Lisa, with the kids jostling to the front of the crowd to get a decent photograph. We spent most of our short time there looking at the large French paintings, including the Raft of the Medusa (Theodore Gericault 1819) and the Wedding at Cana (Paolo Veronese 1563). The detail was extraordinary and even without commentary you could pick out a number of the different bits to the story, however we used Google as we went certainly helped to understand the background to the paintings. Moving downstairs, a number of the Greek and Roman statues kept the kids interested for a bit longer, especially as many of them were naked.

I did come away feeling disappointed, not in the Louvre but in our visit, as I felt that we barely scratched the surface. Unfortunately it was later in the day and Oscar didn’t cope very well at all. I may try and come back just with Zach on one of our remaining days and follow more of a plan.

It was too late in the day and we were all too tired to tackle anything else, however it was still a bit early for dinner, so we stopped off at a creperie on the way home. Most of us chose banana crepes covered in homemade chocolate sauce (Mil opting instead for lemon and sugar). They were delicious but very rich, so we just bought some pizzas and salad from the supermarket for dinner. A cooler night tonight, we enjoyed closing the windows and blocking out the annoying wailing of nearby police sirens.