Photos

A shot of the Louvre. This was taken from a small raised picnic area near the "Paul" truck with the really bad baguettes. This was my favourite place to picnic in Paris. My wife and I would, however, get baguettes from across the street. No "Paul" for us!

From Wikipedia:
The first royal "Castle of the Louvre" was founded in the centre of Paris by Philip Augustus in 1190, as a fortified royal palace to defend Paris on its west against Viking attacks. In the 14th century, Charles V turned it into a palace of the arts, but Francois I and Henri II tore it down to build a real palace; the foundations of the original fortress tower are now under the Salle des Cariatides (Room of the Caryatids).

The existing part of the Châteaux du Louvre was begun in 1535. The architect Pierre Lescot introduced to Paris the new design vocabulary of the Renaissance, which had been developed in the châteaux of the Loire. His new wing for the old castle defined its status, as the first among the royal palaces. J. A. du Cerceau also worked on the Louvre.

PP:
This photo was taken in harsh light and the colours didn't add much so I converted to B&W using channels. I did a conversion using the green and the blue channels. Otherwise I have only adjusted local contrast via curves and sharpened using a "clarify" style USM. The final product was a little grainy, so I decided to embrace that rather than hide it. I made the grain more uniform, but the change was almost negligable.