World History III

Opulence and Style

Monday
It was raining when I woke up. I wasn't complaining, for two reasons: 1) It gave me a good excuse to sleep in and be a little bit lazy. 2) The weather was amazing for the rest of the trip. It also didn't throw off my plans because I'd already made the fan-freaking-tastic decision to do a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus for the day. These things are ingenious for vacations.

There's a set route which multiple buses travel all day, you pay one fee, and you get on and off as many times as you want. Plus, they give you earbuds to listen to a commentary that tells you stuff about the city as you're riding through. I learned so many cool things! 

I picked up the bus at the Arc de Triomphe, which was closest on the metro to home base.  I honestly enjoyed listening to the history as much as I did actually seeing the things. My first interest was the Hotel des Invalides, and the closest stop was the Grand Palais, right across from the Petit Palais. They might as well both have been called Grand and Fancy as Fuck Palais. And I didn't even go inside. But check this shit out: 

This is the entrance to the Petit Palais. Petit. I call bullshit. 









After taking some pictures I walked across the Pont Alexandre III. Super gorgeous, and another great view of the Tower. Not bad. Another history lesson! The bridge is named for Tsar Alexandre III and his son, Nicholas (yup, that Tsar Nicholas) laid the foundation stone. 


Then it was on to Hotel National des Invalides. It was originally meant to be a hospital for veterans, and part of it is still used for that, but most of it is a museum. It has like 5 or 6 different areas, and I really only fit in a few of them. I basically walked into the first section I saw, which had military stuff from Louis XIV to Napoleon I. It was pretty neat; lots of uniforms and weapons, even some cavalry stuff, maps, and medical equipment. 
I was trying to keep track of time, so I wanted to see Napoleon's tomb next. Of course it's housed in the big, ornate domed part of the Invalides. Not exactly humble, was he?

When I walked in I was of course blown away by the intricacies of the building. It had an amazing ceiling, which was another theme to the trip: kickass artworked ceilings. The next thing that caught me was a huge gilded crucifix. It was amazing. Behind it was basically a wall of glass, and I could see the chapel through it. I couldn't stop staring at it, it was just magnificent. 
See for yourself: 

Ah-may-zing.

After seeing that, I had to see the chapel. And it did not disappoint. Like the chapel at Giverny, it had gorgeous stained glass windows, and lots of flags (which you can kind of see in that picture). I know there's more I could say about the chapel, but it's such a personal and spiritual thing, I really don't know how to put it into words. So, I won't even try. Moving along. 

Because I'm completely logical and not at all stubborn, I didn't want to go back the way I came. Any of the ways I came. I needed to head toward the Eiffel Tower, but, I had no idea where I needed to go. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. When you're in the middle of the city, even a giant tower isn't terribly easy to find. The good news is that I was able to find it every once in a while. While I'm sure I took a very roundabout and extended walk, I got there. And I did get to see some random neighborhoods and areas of Paris. Even though I'd only seen one attraction, I was already a few hours and a LOT of walking in, and I'm not ashamed to admit I was already getting a bit tired. 

After catching the bus again at the Tower (I'm glad I got another chance to see it up close) I gladly sat for a while and listened to more interesting information about the city. The next stop (and the next one I was interested in) was the Opera Garnier. 

Hiiistooory! Technically the Palais Garnier, it was named after its architect, Charles Garnier. When they were building it, they found underground lakes, which made it difficult. Garnier was also pretty difficult and insisted on some pretty opulent touches. That included a six ton chandelier, which at some point crashed into the crowd and killed a guy. Or a girl, I dunno. Someone died. Have you figured out where this is going yet? It was the inspiration for Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera. This was another attraction I'd been eagerly anticipating. Unfortunately, they weren't doing tours the day I went, but I did get to walk around the outside and (of course) visit the gift shop. I passed up the opportunity to buy a copy of the book in French, and I now regret that. C'est la vie. 

My last stop was to see Notre Dame again. I walked through quickly to marvel at everything again. The main reason I went there was to buy a new rosary, I figured that was a pretty good opportunity to replace the one I can't find. By this time I was really tired, but I didn't quite want to finish my trip. I took a few minutes to sit in the square and just people watch and look around. 

Pretty exhausted with very tired feet, I got back on the bus, learned a bit more, and made my way back to the Arc de Triomphe. Then it was down to the metro and back to home base. We again just relaxed at home, which was great for me. I was pretty drained. 

Okay, that was a lot for one post, so I'll drag it out and leave my last day for another one. Plus it's bedtime for me, so goodnight my lovelies!