Lost, Triumph, and Victory in Paris

As we left the Pompideau, we headed to a new Subway that just opened.  Paris is our picky child, and eating foreign food, even in Europe, was a challenge for him.  So when he saw his favorite restaurant, he lobbied pretty hard to eat something familiar.  I cringed at the thought of eating American fast food in Paris, so cliche, but sometimes you do things for your kids you would never do yourself.
Brian had a call from the States as we walked to lunch, so that left me to try to wrangle the kids, ask them what they wanted, and translate it into finger pointing and amateur French.  I got through all the kids, and turned to get Paris' when I couldn't find him.  The kids shrugged and said he must have gone to the bathroom.  Only France keeps their bathrooms under lock and key, so I knew that wasn't it.  It took a minute to realize he was really missing, but once it dawned on me, I immediately ran out into the street and started toward the direction we came from.  We had been in the store for at least 5 min.  There was no telling how far behind or ahead he could be by that point.  Paris lost in Paris.  How could I even tell the local authorities what had happened?  How would we find him?
Luckily, these weren't even thoughts I had time to make then.  I stepped out into the street, and there he was, practically in my lap, wandering around and looking panicked and lost.  He was so relieved to see me, that I knew he had been lost for a while, and very worried.  Once we were seated in front of our food, I caught him praying.  After he was done, I asked, "Were you thanking Heavenly Father for helping you be found?"  He nodded.  "Did you pray that He would help you when you were lost?" I asked.  "Yes!" he answered with enthusiasm.  It suddenly struck me what a miracle it was that I found him so quickly and easily.  He was walking with us to the restaurant when he got distracted by a street performer blowing huge bubbles around children.  When he looked up, we were gone and he was alone in a strange land, surrounded by people who didn't even speak English.  How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father for looking out for my child, and for a child who had enough faith to pray for help. 
After lunch, we went to Sainte Chapelle. Another church. But this one was magical. The entire upper floor was bathed in stained glass light.

 Talk about glass houses!  Beautiful.
Then, just to pack in as much as possible, we walked through the flower district on our way to the Arch de Triumph.

There doesn't seem to be a tourist attraction that you can't climb stairs and get a great view of the city.

It was a full day, and we were asleep on our feet as we rode the metro home.  We ate at a cafe close to our home.  I had a risotto that was sublime, but the kids were disappointed they couldn't find French fries. 
The next day was Art day.  We started with the Louvre, of course.  How do you even start in a museum this big?  Thank goodness we had Rick Stevie's tour guide.  It was genius for getting us to all the main art pieces, with interesting facts about paintings and sculptures we saw along the way. 

 Venus de Milo

 Apollo

 Athena

 Athena

 Paris finally found a tapestry with the story of Paris in Paris

 Winged Victory--one of my favorite.

 Mona Lisa

 Vermeer