Paris: Day 4

Our last full day in Paris was more relaxed since it was Monday and most of the sights were closed.  So we had breakfast and started out.  Our first stop was the military museum of the French Army.

The San Fransisco City Hall and the Navel Academy Chapel in Annapolis designs were both inspired by this building.  It once acted as a hospital and retirement place for French war veterans, but the entire complex houses the Army Museum and a few other military related monuments.

Our ever present landmark that we used to get back to the hotel.

The museum chronicled the history of France from a military point of view. From its beginning through both World War I and World War II, up until present day.  Dad and I both found it very interesting to see history from another countries view point.  It really showed how the country you are educated in really affect the thoughts on history.  Another part of the complex that the museum is party of, Les Invalides, is the many tombs French marshals and notable military heroes are buried.

Most notably is the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.  He was a political and military leader of the French revolution.  His ashes were originally on the island of Saint Helena, where he had been sentence to six years by the British.  In 1840 his remains were brought back to France and in 1861 his ashes were finally laid to rest in the red quartzite sarcophagus that is in Les Invalides today.

Others buried here are:

Marshal Vauban's heart, he served under Napoleon I

Lyautey

The chapel, what was interesting to see was that the stained glass windows weren't ornamentation but used to give an ambiance to each room.  The glass in the dome of the chapel was light yellow and gave it an ethereal warm feeling while the glass in the rooms of the tombs was blue and gave the rooms a cold and respectful feel.

Outside of Les Invalides

Next we headed to the metro to make our way to Notre Dame and possibly lunch along the way.  One line was under construction so there was a bus arranged to run to all of the stops.  This is when Dad and I realized that in 4 days he was on a plane, train, car, bus, and later than night, a boat.

Notre Dame, from the line to enter.  Which was completely free.  I expected there to be an entry fee for tourists, like Westminster Abbey, but the only fee was to climb the towers, and light prayer candles, with the candles being on an honor system.

See the one holding his own head?  That is Saint Denis, the story goes that he was martyred in 250 A.D. and rather than dieing instantly his now decapitated body pickup his head, walked six miles while preaching to those around him until he reach the summit of Mont Mars, were Montmarte now is.

The stain glass inside of the cathedral was amazing, unfortunately a large amount of the photos I took inside were blurry because of the low light, and the banning of flash photography inside, which is completely understandable.

Gothic arches, which allowed the architects to build as high as desired for the first time in history.

 The construction of the cathedral started in 1163 and ended in 1345, that is 182 years.  Also, the Crown of Thorns is display in Notre Dame the first Friday of every month and every Friday during Lent.

 The Kilometre Zero of Paris, about 10 yards from the steps of Notre Dame.  It's the official center of Paris, as well as the point from which everything in France is measured from.

From Notre Dame we continued to walk along the river to find Sainte Chapelle.

Ceiling of the lower chapel.

 Sainte Chapelle is famous for it's amazing stained glass.  In fact, it is pretty much the all it is.  We first walked into the lower chapel and then up a stone spiral staircase to the upper chapel with had stained glass on all four walls with easily 35 panels.

 We took time for another coffee, and then set off to get ready for dinner.

After dinner we decided to go on a Seine River cruise since it was our last night in Paris.

 We left the dock at 10:00 pm so we caught the Eiffel Tower light show as we left.

 Pictures were difficult to take, but it was a nice and relaxing hour long tour.  However as we were shown all of the sites along the river, we started to wonder how it took so much effort for us to get to each of the sites.

One of the few pictures that came out decent.

And we caught the light show on the way back as well.

The river cruise was a great way to spend out last night in Paris, once off the boat, we strolled back to our hotel and prepared for our last day in Paris.

If you want to see more photos from our fourth day in Paris, click here.