Paris, Outside the Louvre

As the train traveled over France towards Paris, I couldn't help but notice how picturesque the country side was.  When I got out of the metro and saw the city for the first time, my first thought was how amazing the architecture was!  The first picture here is in St. Pancras in London.  King's Cross actually does have a Platform 9 3/4 with a trolley halfway through the wall, but it was in an area of the station that is under construction, so I had to settle for a different 9 3/4.  While on the train I tried to get a picture of the beautiful sunrise, but it didn't quit turn out.  The third picture is the train station in Paris that I used, Gare du Nord:

One of the first buildings I saw was the Opera Garnier (pictures in a later post).  It was heart stopping, it was so incredible.  I literally stood there with my mouth hanging open for a while, positive I was in a dream.  When I walked up to the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens, it was like a complete and sudden shock.  The only thing that was in my mind was "Oh....my....gosh...is this real?!?!?!?"

Here I the only two pictures I personally took inside the Louvre.  I was astounded by the ceilings, they were so ornate and amazing.  I'll post some more pics from the internet on the ceilings in my next post with all the paintings I loved from the Louvre.  I also took a picture of one of the halls of paintings I walked down, trying to let you see the vastness of just one little section of their collection.  I didn't believe people before when they said you needed more than a day to get through the Louvre.  Turns out....  I ended up breezing through quite a bit of the rooms, and even then there were entire wings of the museum that I didn't even enter!