Dutch Letters: Paris (continued)

We were very lucky with the weather in Paris -- temperatures in the mid-70's most days. This meant that our un-airconditioned apartment was comfortable and that we could walk to most sites. So after visiting the Eiffel Tower we headed to Hotel des Invalides, site of Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb. The tomb was moved here in 1840 from the island of St. Helena where he died in forced exile. His body is protected by six coffins nested inside each other (like the Russian dolls), all of which are enclosed in a sarcophagus of red quartzite.

The hospital is on the left, Royal Church in the center and Soldiers' Church in the far left rear. For the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution the dome was regilded in 1989. It required half a million gold leaves, more than 20 pounds of gold. It seems that acts like that were one of the reasons for the revolution.

Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb. Six nested coffins result in a pretty big tomb for a man who was 5'7" tall.

The Hotel was built in the 1600's by Louis the 14th to provide a home for disabled soldiers. Later a royal church and soldiers' church were added. The two are separated by a glass wall to that the king and his soldiers could attend mass together, yet still enter via separate entrances as prescribed by etiquette.

The Royal Church's altar

The Soldiers' Church. Note the glass wall which opens into the Royal Church.

One of the painted ceilings in the Royal Chapel.

The marble underneath the Roman numerals is worn as people use their fingers to translate the numbers. Can you figure out the year listed (answer at the bottom of the blog).

Beautiful detail in the Royal Chapel.

Napoleon looks out over the courtyard.

The Hotel des Invalides also contains a military artifact museum, with articles from antique armor to modern weapons to a WWII display. The guidebook described it as an "exhaustive collection" and they were right. This three barreled pistol was interesting -- it would seem to account for someone's poor aim.

Decorative windows on the roof of the Hotel

From there it was a long walk over to Champs Elysees for some window shopping then on to the Arc de Triumph. Actually shopping on the Champs Elysees was somewhat disappointing. There were lots of big brands but we didn't see as many high end designer stores as we expected. In fact the biggest crowd was around the Abercrombie and Fitch store. Come on, you can find that in most American malls. There were also 3 or 4 car dealerships which didn't seem much like high end shopping to me.