So that I wouldn't have to spend New Year's and Christmas alone in Spain, my Mom and Sister flew out to see me and Sara. To make a trip of it, we spent four days, including New Year's Eve, in Paris.

This picture was taken at dusk from the view of the restaurant on the second floor inside the Louvre. For those of you who are planning on one day visiting this remarkable place: Don't eat here!

It's not that the food was bad or anything but it was such a colossal waste of time. All we wanted was to order a couple drinks because we had been wandering around Paris all day and needed some coffees and water.

However, inside the Louvre you must be in one of the dining areas, you can't be walking around with drinks. So we had to wait in line for a table to open up (almost an hour), wait for our waiter to come by, to give us menus, ask for our order, give us the bill, etc (another hour).

We spent nearly five hours at the Louvre, two of those just trying to get a drink. Heed my warning, stop before you get to the museum. It's not worth the money or the time that you could be spending seeing all of the amazing work.

Having said that, we did happen to get a great view over the courtyard and this beautiful picture.