The lobby of the Louvre as well as the mall area have some interesting architecture.

You can walk down this twisting staircase or, if you have a wheelchair or baby stroller, take this tubular elevator down to the floor of the lobby of the Louvre.

Isn’t this curve great?

The inverted pyramid right past in underground shopping area is always a hit with children. This is where, in The Da Vinci Code, the books ends.

Leaving the Louvre Museum, you can walk into the Tuileries Garden which is full of statues. Someone put a rose in the hand of this one.

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Here and there around Paris are hidden corners and fountains that are easy to miss if you don’t get off the main streets. Here are two that look much better in the summer when the water is running.

A fountain, not running in the winter, in a small park by the Biblioteque Nationale. Each of the women represent a river in France.

A chubby little cherub also on the same fountain.

I believe this is Moliere who has his own fountain in a hidden corner near the Louvre.

Isn’t this funny? Someone stuck a wine bottle into the mouth of a lion on the Moliere fountain.

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Going out the rear of the Palais Royal, you quickly come to the Galerie Vivienne, one of the most lovely of the remaining passages left in Paris where they discovered the joys of shopping on tiled surfaces under cover from the weather.

The entrance right off of Rue des Petit Champs. The Christmas lights are still up.

This shop sells many lovely accessories. I’d love that umbrella with the heart on it but I only buy cheap umbrellas as I easily loose them and they have to be small enough to fit in my purse.

Can you see the blue fish behind the lights? This is on a scarf hanging in the window. This store has the most incredible scarves you have ever seen.

A tea shop is there too. You can see the gorgeous tile on the floor in this shot.

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Across Rue de Rivoli leaving the Louvre Museum, is the lovely Palais Royal. I go there all of the time which you will already know if you have been reading this blog for any length of time. At Christmas they put a Christmas tree(undecorated) on every column of the covered passage ways and roll out a red carpet.

I’ve taken so many photos of the fountains there. These silver balls always reflect the columns of the Palais Royal and the balls themselves. Very Christmassy. One of these days I’m going to buy a blow up Santa Claus and situate him so he is reflected in these balls and use the photo for a Christmas card.

There is the typical round fountain in the gardens of the Palais Royal and there are often modern sculptures placed here and there, different every month or so. This artist did groups of people he called Waiting and he also stuck a few of the upper torsos in the pond.

They lock up the Palais Royal at night by closing these gold topped gates. Pretty elegant place.

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On a mostly day gray day, I took these photos:

Aren’t these benches great. They are sculpted open books in a little park behind the Institute de France on the Left Bank. They represent all of the intellectual life that was once a huge part of the bohemian life here.

She’s in the same park.

Cross the Pont des Arts in front of the Institue de France, and there you are at the Louvre. Gray sky, gray fountain, grayish water.

A look at three triangular shapes inside a walkway at the Louvre.

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More views around the Left Bank, mostly on the Rue du Buci, a fun, lively place.

There is a little flower shop there that always has the most fabulous flowers. I doctored up the photo a little.

During the winter season, there are oysters and shrimp for sale at a stand on the street. I love shrimp. You know what I can’t find here?–cocktail sauce. I have to make my own which I discovered has horse radish in it so I bring some with me when I come from the States as I haven’t found a source here either.

This place sells ham that is cut right off of the legs which you can see sitting in the window, hoofs and all, but I like the rose on the window the best.

You can eat outside there too but it is a little nippy here right now. By the way, they have passed a law and smoking is not allowed anymore in restaurants. I am so happy. I had gotten used to it by necessity and I thought there would be a huge strike and upheaval here as smoking is such a huge part of eating and drinking in France but it seems to have happened very smoothly.
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