I end my holidays in Paris, always.Simply because I feel I belong there, and maybe one day I will…

Anyway, I stay in the same hotel for a week, near the Arc de Triumph, and on day one hardly leave my room, just sitting at the desk, and writing, while staring at the Eifel Tower and the Arc. It doesn’t get any better than that, I assure you or those who have the same feeling about Paris.

Day two I force myself to leave the room, and venture down Champ des Élysée, just strolling towards the gardens, eventually ending up at the Louvre. I always go down inside the main entrance area, and walk about the shops. Just in case you are wondering, I’ve been to the museum countless times, so on my most recent trips to Paris, I decided not to go inside the salons (Salle) to view the artwork, and fascinating artifacts and such.

There is a shop right behind the information booth, I realized on this visit, that it was closed, boarded up of sorts, with an arrow pointing down through a long corridor to an opening I have never seen before naturally. I discovered soon enough that area of the museum has been open only since March 2015 so it is something too new to have noticed. It has eateries, boutiques, and chocolate shops carved underneath the museum, level -1 if you will, my favorite floor in most of Paris. It’s where everything happens.

I walked further, passing through a security barrier, and upon reaching a grand opening, my jaw dropped and my eyes lit up at how amazing the place looked. Although I felt a little heartbroken that part of the museum underneath had been converted, only visible are a few artifacts, and parts of the underneath structure so we understand how the transformation took place, too much westernizing if you ask me.

You can access this interesting discovery through any of the corridors, just take the escalators down to level -1. If you choose to return to the museum, simply show your ticket and they will let you in, after of course you’ve passed security again. I have mixed emotions about the place…

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