I'm still in Paris for the moment, doing all the typical touristy things... yesterday I started off at the Arc de Triomphe and walked all the way down the Champs-Elysees to the Louvre (which is a pretty long walk). I took my time about it, though. There are lots of cafes on the Champs-Elysees, so I had some breakfast, and later some ice cream, and I stopped in at the main Sephora store for a while to get beautified at the Yves St. Laurent counter (hey, when in Paris...). I was aiming to arrive at the Louvre sometime after 3, since my Rick Steves book said admission is cheaper then, but either he's out of date or he's lying, because the price is the same all the way through.

Anyway, I did eventually get to the Louvre and saw all the highlights, which is about all you can do without killing yourself, since it's so huge. It's also really, really crowded, and it's worth seeing for certain things, but it's not a terribly pleasant museum experience. I had a much better time at the Pompidou, and I've heard the Musee d'Orsay (Impressionism and Art Nouveau) is much nicer, so I'm headed there tomorrow.

Last night, I was toying with the idea of going to Versailles today, since I wanted to get out of Paris and everybody goes there. Ultimately, I decided not to, since, well, everybody goes to Versailles (especially on Tuesdays, when the Louvre is closed). I'd had enough of elbowing my way through crowds of tourists at the Louvre, so I went to Chartres instead. Chartres is about an hour southwest of Paris by train, and it has a huge, glorious Gothic cathedral with the world's best collection of medieval stained glass. (All the windows were removed, piece by piece, during the World Wars, which is why most of Chartres' glass has survived when other cathedrals' didn't.)

Chartres gets its fair share of tourists, but it's pretty peaceful at this time of year, so I had the cathedral almost to myself. The glass there is predominantly that beautiful shade of blue, somewhere between cobalt and turquoise, that characterizes 13th-century glass; later renovations, such as the southern rose window at Notre-Dame, don't have that colour because nobody knows how to make it anymore. Stained glass is pretty damn hard to photograph, but I tried my best and there will be some pictures up when I get home. Chartres is also notable for its medieval labyrinth, inlaid directly into the floor, which pilgrims used to follow on their knees. It's amazingly well-preserved.

After the cathedral (and an excellent meal in the town centre), I went to the International Stained Glass Centre, which has displays about the making of stained glass, the history of the craft (especially of Chartres), and exhibitions that change periodically. Right now, they're exhibiting restoration techniques and examples from various cathedrals around Europe. It's a really cool place to visit if you're into that sort of thing, and I don't regret missing Versailles at all. (I did see it from the train, coming home, and it looks pretty impressive.)

Tomorrow, I'm going up the Eiffel Tower, visiting a couple more museums (the Orsay and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs), and then making my way to Milan...