Rather than hassling Jean-Paul the French authorities should have been protecting the Louvre.

Isn't that the truth.

BTW, at the time of the robbery I was in a car on the opposite side of the Louvre headed for Malmaison and my guide and I were discussing Napoleon's progeny including Princess Eugenia.

Yesterday, while going through border processing, the guy next to me in line was in the Louvre at the time and took a picture of the ladder device that looked just like the one in the papers.

The French definitely hire many people to watch museum visitors but not protect items. For example, I saw the table at Versailles that the treaty that ended World War I was signed. Not identified as such at all. But I could have bent over and scratched my name into it no problem. It should have been in a case.

Even with a government shutdown, American security, customs and border crossing beats the hell outta Europe as far as efficiency. I had to stand for two hours in four different lines to leave France.

About 20 hours after the Texas Aggies beat the Mizzou Tigers, I visited the National WWI Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

WWI Museum

The museum does a disturbingly good job of telling the story. Between the Truman Library and this museum, KC is actually worth the trip, even without an A&M game.

Due to the government shut-down, the Truman Library was closed. I will go back to KC. The museum has an amazing collection of artifacts, and the presentation of the material is thought-provoking.

Fort Leavenworth, just across the river, has a small museum about the frontier Army. There's also a place on the post where you can still see wagon ruts going up the bluff from the ford site on the river.

Now, I haven't been to the Fort since I was on active duty, so I have no idea how the general public would go about getting on post.