Paris! It is kind of like if Vegas was real, and I mean that with less sarcasm than you might think.
Our plan today was to be mellow, walk for maybe an hour or two. But as soon as we walked out the door to our hotel, we were swept up by one sight after another. Things we have seen many times before still demanded to be photographed, and things we had walked by but never entered amazed us.
When you cannot bring yourself to get out of bed fast enough for breakfast in the hotel restaurant, breakfast in the room will do.
We exited our hotel onto Place de la Concorde. Designed in 1755 as an octagon surrounded by a moat, the largest public square in Paris has undergone many significant changes. The most noteworthy change would probably when it went from being
Place Louis XV with a statue of Louis XV to
Place de la Révolution, when the King's statue was torn down and a guillotine moved to the center of the square, so that King Louis XVI as well as Queen Marie Antoinette and many, many others could be executed here. In fact, thousands were executed here. During the Reign of Terror, in the summer of 1794, over 1,300 people were executed in a single month.
The name Place de la Révolution was changed to Place de la Concorde (roughly, The Square of Harmony) during the Directory from 1795 to 1799, the second to last stage of the French Revolution when executive power was held by a board of five directors.
They were not done renaming this square, as there were even more names in the 1800's, but they eventually settled back on Place de la Concorde. Fascinating that they were able to replace a place of bloodshed with the concept of harmony, but it worked.
The Eiffel Tower and the obelisk. The obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. It is easy to assume thievery when seeing an Egyptian relic in Europe, but this obelisk was in fact a gift from the Egyptian government in 1829. The obelisk arrived in 1833 and on October 25, 1836, King Louis Philippe had it placed where the guillotine stood during the Revolution. In case you are wondering about there being a King of France after the French Revolution, it actually took the French until 1873 to be completely done with monarchs.
These two stone buildings are part of the original design, and the Madeleine Church is framed perfectly between them. The building on the right was originally the French Naval Ministry. The one on the left was originally the residence of the Duc d'Aumont until it was sold to the Comte de Crillon, whose family resided there until 1907. Today it is the Hôtel de Crillon, which happens to be our residence for two nights this visit.
Obelisk not stolen. Totally kosher. Also, this photograph kicks wicked a--. Seriously. Stare at that sucker. It deserves it.
Picture a statue of a king on a horse, then picture a guillotine surrounded by all the gruesomeness you can imagine, and then look at the obelisk. Sometimes things work out best in the long run.
Our hotel is right THERE.
By the way, our hotel was the headquarters of the German High Command during World War II, when the Nazis occupied Paris. But hey, that just means that the Nazis liked luxury accommodations. You do not take a 250 year old building and shun it because it happened to have some nasty occupants for five of those years.
Rule #7 of Visiting Paris; you will take a picture of the Eiffel Tower nine times for every ten that you spot it.
As we crossed Pont de la Concord, we turned and saw this beautiful view. I did not give you any arrows, but if you are crafty you will spot the Louvre and Notre Dame.
Yours truly posing with Thomas Jefferson, who was Ambassador to France from 1785 to 1789. He left just as the French Revolution began, and became the Third President of the USA in 1801.
The Louvre. As we learned last year, it just might be second to St. Petersburg's Hermitage, but then the French government never declared that every privately owned piece of art in the country suddenly belonged to the government.
The destination for our walk was the Musée d'Orsay, which had been closed for renovation during our visit last year. We have not been inside since the year 2000.
And, thanks to this line, we may not be inside for a few more years.
You know how I love to see movie posters in other languages. It is always interesting to see the interpretation.
The statues on the Pont des Invalides, one of our favorite bridges.
L'Hôtel national des Invalides. We have always admired it from a distance and have never gone inside, and I have always wanted to at least get up close to it. Today we got closer and we learned that Louis XIV built this in 1670 as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers.
This design was inspired by Saint Peters Basilica in Rome. You have to hand it to the French. When they borrow, they borrow excellently.
Today it is a museum for the French Military, and a tomb for soldiers. In fact, that dome is Napoleon's tomb. The truth is that we were headed for the Rodin Museum and we figured we would stop here and check it out. No expectations.
Holy Moly Rigatoni... add Napoleon's tomb to your next visit to Paris. Nobody has ever mentioned this place to us, but architecturally it is magnificent.
And, if you think about it, everyone in the USA owes a great debt to Napoleon. He sold us New France to get out of his war debt and make a little cash, and the USA doubled in size overnight. The area of the Louisiana purchase represents one fifth of the United States today. Had that territory remained French, the odds were against the USA ever reaching the Pacific Ocean.
Napoleon thought he was helping to create a rival to Great Britain, but he failed to recognize the value of common language. I would love to correctly quote George R. R. Martin's
A Game of Thrones, but I will have to paraphrase, “Do you still believe good soldiers make good Kings?”
Say what you want about the French. When they do it, they do it right.
This photograph is for someone special in my family.
Let us get a little close to Napoleon's ashes.
Will these two be acceptable as guards of the tomb?
Napoleon's ashes were originally interred on Saint Helena when he died in 1821, but King Louis-Philippe (he keeps popping up) brought his remains to France in 1840. He was originally kept in Chapelle Saint-Jérôme in the Invalides until this tomb was finished in 1861. A tomb this size for ashes that would fit in a coffee can.
There was a time when this man had Europe at his feet. I wonder what the opinion is of him today.
Barbie's feet have been to Napoleon's tomb. (A rare sighting of Barbie's feet!)
Barbie's hand and camera!
What is with the exclamation points!
Whether recreating St. Peter's of Rome as L'Hôtel national des Invalides or the Parthenon of Athens as the Madeleine Church, the French have managed to make their capital an original.
Again, I float the idea that if Vegas had class... not just class but vision... well, enough of that.
Next door to L'Hôtel national des Invalides is one of the great private museums of Paris, and the world.
Every now and then a member of humankind -- through a combination of skill, dedication, and luck -- creates a masterpiece.
Le Pensevr is an example. First cast in 1902, it will always communicate a deep sense of humanity.
Intended as tribute.
You need to work around the crowd, but it is worth it.
Barbie with
The Three Shades, 1886.
The Martyr, 1925.
Gustave Geffroy, 1905.
Hand Emerging from the Tomb, 1914.
Lover's Hands, 1904.
Lover's Hands, 2011.
Last Vision, 1903.
Colossal Head of Pierre de Wissant, 1910.
The Kiss, 1889.
The Secret, 1909.
I do not know who she is, but she spent a long time positioning her hands to match the sculpture. She is one of us.
Barbie presents the Rodin Museum.
We visited this museum in 2000, but it was great to return. There is another destination in Paris that, like Napoleon's tomb, has eluded us during our every previous visit to Paris.
We purchased three day passes to the Metro and went underground.
Need I say more?
Nachos were ordered, with bird meat. A shot glass was purchased.
And we rode the Metro home.
Standing directly in front of Église de la Madeleine, I used a panorama to capture it all. I have shown you enough undistorted pictures that I feel it is a good thing to distort it a bit.
We never knew, but this very dark church features three domes in a row. A Greek temple on the outside, with three Italian Renaissance domes on the inside. Napoleon chose the design of this building in 1806, intending it to be a
Temple to the Glory of the Great Army, but he was no longer Emperor when it was completed. King Louis XVIII dedicated this site as a church, and they chose to dedicate it to Mary Magdalene.
Barbie lights a candle.
From the Madeleine Church's columns you can see clear to the Place de la Concorde and across the Seine to the Assemblée Nationale, the lower house of the Parliament of France. (France has a House and Senate, like the USA.)
Remember Thailand? Do you? It was only a few weeks ago that we were in Thailand and Laos. Michael, a friend we made on that trip,
highly recommended that we get tea at this establishment. Today it was closed. We shall try again.
And with that, we returned to the hotel. All four of our feet were quite displeased with us.
We walked out of our door today expecting to hit maybe one museum, and we accidentally had a borderline magical day walking for hours visiting sites old and new. Paris, you astound me every time.
A wonderful day in Paris finished with our staying in for some Colbert Report.
Until tomorrow...
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