Mom, dad and I stroll south towards the Latin quarter. Before lunch we stop and view the Pantheon. Lunch consists of real French crepes. Orange marmalade, crème and nuts, and apple filled crepes are ordered. Restaurants over in the Latin quarter seem to be more "French" then those around the hotel. This area is one of Paris's neighborhoods not to be missed.

St. Michael's cathedral is around the corner. I snap some photographs and we head to the Louvre.

As expected, the entrance line is long. Dad and I leave mom in the outside line - snaking around the famed glass triangle. The Louvre's courtyard sports a mechanical drummer boy. He is nested up along the roof and rhythmically beats his drum. You have to take a double glance because at first he seems lifelike. You know he can't be real but… Yesterday when we were at the Louvre we saw a museum entrance outside the RER train station. Dad and I head downstairs to see if the line is shorter. It is, but when I go back for mom she has already entered the museum. Problem is, you can't get down into the museum without waiting in the line! Bottom line: we reunite about an hour later. This bit of fact becomes relevant due to the timing.

Our tickets are purchased. The second floor of the Scully X building is our destination. Here the famed Feast of Cannon and Mona Lisa are displayed. [The museum says 6 million people visit the museum each year to view the Mona Lisa. The painting was taken off public display Monday but will be reopened Wednesday to the public in the Salle des Etats. The famous portrait, believed to be of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of an obscure Florentine merchant, was painted between 1503 and 1506 on a thin panel of wood. The artist brought the painting to France in 1517. It has been in the Louvre since 1804.] But as we reach the top step of the 2nd floor the lights go out. Every light, all around, is off. Emergency exit lighting is not working or is not installed. The place is totally dark with just a few green emergency exit signs lit. People are using their cell phones to display the path. Security's response was not expected: they did nothing. There was no immediate closure, there was no announcement made calming people. We (along with hundreds of others) were able to wander the dark Scully X building for an hour before security started to ask people to leave! It was almost like a James Bond movie. You fully expected a dark clad man to repel from the ceiling and start cutting away artwork. Unless security cameras were infrared I guarantee you they saw nothing. We passed at least one little shop and the poor cashier didn't know what to do. There was no security around her - anybody could have grabbed merchandise.

We wandered to the far end and found the Mona Lisa. This room was, thankfully, lit. Da Vinci's most famous painting is much smaller than I had imagined. Mona Lisa is framed behind an oversized glass enclosure and roped off. Photographs are "strictly" prohibited. But with security guards off doing God knows what in the darkness everybody was photographing the exhibit. Cell phone cameras, 35mm cameras, any and every digital type of camera were all shooting the artwork. And yes, most all were using a flash. Security didn't care - they were non existent! After a while I believe they stopped letting people into the Scully building. This made it great because at one point there was practically nobody viewing the Mona Lisa!

There were a few other famed pieces lit but most all were dark. Finally, security starts asking people to leave. We've had enough and want a refund - it seems like quite a few others do as well. The line at service is growing and is being headed up by an Indian looking lady who is speaking French and English to the attendant. Long story short is that we get to talk to a supervisor (speaking only French) and are gladly offered vouchers to come back tomorrow. (We have plans for tomorrow and they don't include the Lourve, therefore, that doesn't help us!) Admitting they are responsibly is good, however, they declare they just can't refund money. With three vouchers in hand we head off. For good measure (ok, pleasure) I take one of the vouchers and sell it (hey, we can get our money back some way).

It's dinner time and we are getting tired.

Grocery shopping is always a neat way to compare prices. There was a fair sized store in the Latin quarter. We went in and perused their shelves. Tropicana Orange juice runs from 2.60 euros to 3.05 euros. They have almost all of the American cereals such as Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, etc. Prices are comparable to the US excluding the dollars exchange rate. We had found butter to be an expensive commodity. (At one restaurant we were charged 1 euro for 3 little squares of butter.) In the store it was fairly priced. They had all the meats one would expect from pork to beef to veal. Coke is sold in 2 liter bottles. The store was running a special whereby you got eight 2 liter bottles for about 8 euros. Not a bad price!

It is now back to the hotel and time for bed.