Halloween!
So first of all, this post really has nothing to do with Halloween. Here's the extent of my Halloween-related activities today: visited a tomb (not at all Halloween-related, but tombs sort of fit the theme), saw a little English boy in the metro wearing a black cape and red devil horns, ate some candy corn, got a Halloween card from Dad. (Thanks Dad!) However, the weather seemed to be celebrating by finally letting up and giving us some much needed SUN! So I planned a nice outdoor day for myself. (I don't have any classes on Mondays! And tomorrow's off for
Toussaint, All Saints' Day, so I don't even have much homework right now.) Second of all, the theme of the day is war.
First, I headed over to
l'hôtel des invalides, which is a really big complex. It's part hospital, part museum, part church, and part Napoleon's tomb! It also has this gorgeous big gilt dome, which I've kept seeing from all over Paris, so I thought it was finally time to go check it out. Anyway, I didn't bother with the museums (all war-related) today--it was too nice out--but I did go into Napoleon's tomb--if it can really be called that. There were some other people interred there as well, and tomb doesn't seem to go far enough--not even mausoleum--maybe memorial is more accurate. Anyway, it's a really interesting space. I didn't realize from the outside, but there must be several smaller domes as well, because they're there on the inside! All beautifully gilt and painted, of course...
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| les invalides, seen looking south |
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| You can also see la tour Eiffel from there! |
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| There were lots of cannons! |
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| the dome seen from inside the courtyard |
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| Another cannon! You can see Louis XIV's sun symbol and the symbol of France, the fleur-de-lys, on it. |
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| And all of a sudden, there was a tank! Not from the reign of Louis XIV, I think... |
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| the inside of the dome |
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| Such a big tomb for such a little man! Although he was very influential... |
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| The floors were as beautiful as the ceilings! |
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| the altar |
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| Stained glass and gilt cherubs: French art in a nutshell! |
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| more stained glass (up in the dome) |
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| more stained glass, and Maréchal Foch's tomb, and a WWI memorial |
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| more floor art--the omnipresent fleur-de-lys |
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| What a floor! |
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| This was on the way to Napoleons' tomb. In case of any doubt? |
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| a scale model of the whole complex |
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| a close up of the dome, seen looking north |
Then, I wanted to see the
Musée Rodin, Rodin Museum, which is right near by, because it's supposed to have a nice garden with a lot of his sculptures in it, but it was, of course closed, because today is Monday and many museums here are closed on Mondays (hence museum Wednesdays for me). So I walked over to
la tour Eiffel next, which I had been intending to do anyway. I wasn't planning on going to the top, and I didn't, because of course the lines were enormous, but I was at the top when I was here with high school three years ago, so that's okay. But I did enjoy wandering around
les champs du Mars (that's Mars as in the Roman god of war) for a bit. Most of the grass was off-limits (the grass in Paris apparently needs to rest in the winter) but there were some grassy places off to the sides which still had a nice view of the tower, so I camped out there and enjoyed my
baguette à la mimolette. Mimolette is a type of French cheese; it's sort of like cheddar, although I think it's a bit more mild. But it's orange and delicious, so it works for me! And then I sunbathed for a while there--the French say either
prendre un bain du soleil or
faire du lézard, litterally "to take a sun bath" and "to do make like a lizard"--such delightful ways to say you're catching some rays! It was so nice to feel the warm sun and to have my bare feet on the grass and to smell the grass! I love how much there is to do and see in the city, but I think on the whole I really am a country girl.
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| L'école militaire, the Military School, which faces the Eiffel Tower at the far end of le champ de mars. |
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| As far as I could tell, this was a peace monument... |
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| LA TOUR EIFFEL!!! |
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| my view from lunch today |
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| My lunch today, baguette à la mimolette, enjoyed very much al fresco! |
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| the garden, with sunbathers |
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| closer... |
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| The Eiffel Tower: it's not as solid as it appears from a distance! (viewed from underneath) |
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| I guess chrysanthemums are the traditional fall flower here, too. |
Anyway, once I'd had my fill of lizarding, I continued on my journey, passing under
la tour Eiffel, over the
Pont Iéna, and ending up not at grandmother's house but at
les jardins et la place du Trocadéro. Now, I know from my history class that Trocadero was a battle that the French won in Spain--more precisely, the first battle won by the new French regime after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. And according to Wikipedia's scanty article on it, the area I visited was built and modified for two Universal Expositions held in Paris, and the name is to honor that same battle. I didn't linger too long, because there were a lot of people there, and I had run out of water and couldn't find any more!
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| A statue on le pont Iéna--note the artful placement of the horse's mane. |
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| view of the Seine from Iéna, with Sacré-Coeur in the background |
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| Trocadéro |
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| la tour Eiffel as seen from la place du Trocadéro |
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| a monument to WWI soldiers at Trocadéro |
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| Maréchal Foch again, I believe |
So I headed to my next destination, the Porte Dauphine metro station, not too far away, where there is still one of two remaining art-deco metro entrances. It didn't take much time to see, but it was cool, and I could (and did) walk from there to l'Arc de triomphe, which is even prettier in the sun than in the rain, and then, exhausted, I took the metro home!
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| the Art-Deco metro entrance from the inside |
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| detail of the panels |
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| all together now |
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| More mums, and some foliage to boot! |
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| More mums... note the shadow of me taking the photo! |
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| L'arc de triomphe |
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| The metro, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc of Triumph--a very Parisian view! |
