Napoleon's tomb

After visiting the Musée de l'Armée, we walked around to view Napoleon's tomb, which, strangely, I don't think I had ever seen before.

The last time we were here, my boys visited the tomb with their Aunt Michelle and Nicole and Kristen. Michelle's sunglasses fell as she leaned over, crashing down below. We took a moment to laugh about that (she can laugh about it now, too).

looking up at the dome of Les Invalides

I am utterly in love with this window.

the tomb from the lower level

one of the many statues flanking the tomb

This photo does not even begin to show how tall these doors are. 

a rare self-portrait with the kids - and everyone is smiling!!

I always love the cone trees.

After a successful outing, we made our way home. 

Musée de l'Armée

Lucas wanted to go to the Musée de l'Armée at Les Invalides, so off we went. I enjoy that, when we go places in Paris, I can remember taking Max there as a little boy, then young Max and Lucas, then the boys when older with a tiny Eva in tow, and my children as they are now. There are memories embedded in the different places we go, and I feel like the memory-keeper, since in many cases, my children were too young to really remember. But I digress...

This museum is chock full of armor, for both human and horses (and, in one case, dogs) and weaponry. It blows my mind to imagine the weight and awkwardness involved in wearing chain mail and armor. (Not to mention how incredibly hot it must have been in there.)

You can't really see the horse's eye within its fly-eye cage, but it looks terrified. Not that I can blame it.

I know I've taken this photo before, but I just find it fascinating. I don't like guns, and would never own one, but I am fascinated by these shadows.

We were marveling at the amount of detail and ornamentation on both the armor and the weapons. It's interesting that such craftsmanship and beauty went into things designed for battle (and pageantry). Each one of those little cameos on this sword were carved. Unbelievable.

This looks so heavy! And hot. I can't help imagining how oppressively hot I would be if I had to wear it. And then a suit of metal with a helmet covering my face. Shudder.

We were also amazed by the size of the armor. People were definitely smaller in the past! At least French people. And I'm not talking about the child-size armor, which we also saw.

Lucas thought that at least the soldiers would have been big and muscular, but almost all of the suits of armor looked too small to fit him (and he's not a particularly big guy!).

Here's something interesting: the placard next to this bas relief explained that the bird was piercing its heart with its beak and the blood was flowing down to feed the baby birds, to represent the sacrifices parents make for their children. Smotherhood to the max!!

There are windows through which you can see shelves upon shelves of gauntlets, helmets, and other armor parts. Also rifles and spears.

Okay, I feel sorry for the horse that had to wear this! It doesn't even look like it could reach its full stride!

Look at the difference between the part of the building that has been restored vs. the part that hasn't!

Eva chasing pigeons.

They were having a special exhibition on Les Mousquetaires (Musketeers). I loved it.

This sketch captures so much with just a few lines. I wish I could do that!

A Picasso drawing of a Musketeer.

At the end, there were costumes and a sword you could try!

This alone was worth the price of admission.

Invalides

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.)