August 24th : Paris, France
Another hot night with no sleep. We really hate the hotel we’re staying in. It’s hard to understand how a (fairly) new hotel in Paris can’t have A/C that works – in summer!
In any case it wasn’t until 10 am that we got underway with a coffee and cafe (the hotel’s version of breakfast) before making our way to the Metro.
Oh, by the way, this was a learning exercise: we won’t stay out of the inner city ever again.
Our first stop today was Pont Neuf. It is the oldest bridge spanning the river Seine, connecting the right and left banks to the tiny islands of Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis in the middle of the Seine.
The weather was, in a word, miserable. As we approached, we passed the court of justice and Saint Sainte Chapelle church, which had a queue lined up to enter. We strode south towards Notre Dame, the famous Gothic church.
Approaching the church was quite an experience, especially since it is so obviously set apart from the other buildings which cram the island.
As we stood in front of the impressive doors, it started to rain. We joined the “free entry” queue and walked inside.
As you may know, we have visited a lot of churches on this trip: St Paul’s, Westminster, St Peter’s, Santiago, two churches in Evora (Portugal) etc, however this was quite something, as we were entering during mass.
I could picture Quasimodo (the hunchback) dwelling in the recesses, but was surprised by the level of finery and finesse inside the church. I’d pictured something out of Batman’s Gotham City (refer to the first Batman film starring Michael Keaton) rather than the glorious and expansively crafted interior I was witness to.
We spent a little while circling the interior before making an exit (timed with a drop in the rain).
The archaeology crypt beneath was closed for the summer, so instead we crossed to the south and caught the RER at Saint Michel to the Invalides stop, and made our way towards Napoleon’s Tomb.
The trek takes us down a major avenue (Esplanade des Invalides) which faces north. At the base of this long avenue sits a building built in Napoleon’s time, meant to be a respite for his wounded soldiers.
After his death he was buried on the island of St Helena but in 1840 his remains were removed and enshrined at Invalides in Paris.
Our initial goal was to see the military museum located in the same complex. Although the section devoted to the Napoleonic Wars was closed (it was due to be open by Summer 2009), we did manage to see the middle age and WWI & WWII museums.
It is said that Invalides contains the largest most comprehensive collection of military collectables in the world. It certainly surprised us. In terms of just the range of armour and swords from the middle ages, it was superb.
We spent a good few hours examining the many collections from armour for royalty to everyday weapons (double handed swords, halberds, crossbows – you name it).
After spending a very decent amount of time in the museums, we finally made our way to the main attraction – the tomb of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte.
The tomb is Roman inspired and consists of a massive dome, which is visible from various locations through Paris. It is exceptionally large and mostly marble. There are major archways into atriums containing the final resting places of France’s heroes as well as some of Napoleon’s descendents.
We went down to the crypt level which was very fine and contained a central area ringed with marble statues.
After some time we exited and decided on our next location. It is about this time that the rain begins (again). We hop onto the Metro and head to the Opera district. The area is flanked with chic expensive designer labels and related shopping attractions.
With some effort we finally located a place to eat called Hippopotamus. We sat inside,ate some steak and waited for the rain to stop. Thunder and lighting started to hit the city so we realised that our day was about to be cut short. So we decided to return to Montrueil.
On our way back to the hotel we decided to go into the local Carrefours (a French shopping chain) and bought some water and breakfast items. Upon our return to the hotel we started packing for we were off to Bordeaux the following day.
It’s worth noting that it rained most of the night (with lightning) and also that despite the rain the hotel was still incredibly hot – I don’t understand it!