Lucas has been pestering me to take him back to the armory museum at Les Invalides for, oh, two months or so. Never mind that he already went with the Denneys when they were visiting. When we were on the train to London, he deleted all of the photos he'd taken in Paris thus far, despite my express instructions not to do so. And ever since, he's been wanting to go back and recreate the pictures he'd taken.
I'd been procrastinating it for two reasons: 1. I was mad that he deleted all of his photos, and 2. I was not all that interested in going back. But it was inevitable, and I relented on Tuesday.
Lucas getting a shot for his "Last Thing You See" series. (I have to admit to being charmed by his original idea and follow-through.)
I thought this juxtaposition between the clunky tank and the beautiful courtyard was interesting.
As well as this lovely engraving... on a cannon.
While looking at this chain mail shirt, I couldn't help remembering Kristi asking a museum docent if she couldn't buy one for a time-out shirt! Seriously. I can't even imagine how they moved around with all of this added weight.
Eva peeking into the room with stacks upon stacks of armor, shields, swords, etc.
So ornate! I guess you might as well look good if you're going to be risking your life.
So the horses had to support the weight of a knight in armor, and have their own armor as well!
These are called kidney daggers. How creepy is that?
We called this the Cannon of Love. Did the soldiers need any more reminders of their lover's embrace while facing death??
Do you think one person could hold a gun that long? (Lucas included to show scale.)
Articulated hand armor. It seems like it would be hard to have any dexterity at all while wearing these metal gloves.
It was getting dark when we exited the museum.
When we were walking out, the monument's lights weren't on, but when we turned around for one last peek, there they were!(Incidentally, last week after Mom and I stopped at that floral shop, I snapped a picture of it from the bus and an older French woman looked at me, perplexed. Perhaps a little amused. Then when the bus turned in front of Les Invalides, she looked at me all excited, pointing at the golden dome, saying "it's gold!" -- as if to show me something I should really be photographing.)
5 comments:
At first when I read the title of your post I was afraid that your family was sick again! Phew. I'm glad that this outing was a success, even though I can't blame you for not being too interested in going.
And yes, the kidney daggers are a little disturbing.
Hmm, that gun must have belonged to someone with a Napolean complex.
I love the canon. It is so funny to me that someone would think, 'Hey, we need a canon to blow people to pieces with, but of course, it must be beautiful as well.'
I still can't believe Lucas deleted all of his photos from his original visit, it pains me.
The writing on the canon is beautiful, and I do think it's funny that the armor has decorations on it. I guess they couldn't help themselves, they just had to be artistic.
What an interesting museum!
Love a culture that pays attention to minute details of everything they create- including armor and cannons.
there is something really amazing and enchanting about the military specially in France. In Mexico they have to use French it is the 2nd or 3rd required language...so in official papers you always see it, but since My dad is a military man, I often wore his dark green long coat/with gold buttons to BYU probably not a good idea, since I used it soo much I literally used it all up! but THIS post reminds me of my love for France and their je ne sais quoi that they have....about it, I was mesmerized by Napoleon's tomb....Oh which reminds me, I just rented a movie about Napoleon, it was ...gosh I forget nameS, i MUST look it up... but it was a story line where at the island where he was prisioner, they found a man that looked just like him, and switched them, so he returned to Paris, and couldn't say who he was until it was time, however it never was...it was a good movie. I am rumbling...sorry.....so many thoughts....
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