Les Invalides

Today I am proud to take you to one of my special places in Paris - l'Hôtel National des Invalides. Those of you who have been reading my blog already for a while know that my family has a long tradition of military service and that I always enjoy visiting military museums and exhibitions.

Les Invalides were built in 17th century upon an order of Louis XIV. Until the early twentieth century it used to be a home and hospital for aged and injured soldiers. In 1905 it was turned into a museum devoted to the French Army. Its courtyard was the witness of many major events in the French history.

The building undergoes now some refurbishement. It is interesting to see the results on the left and the original state on the right.

The man above the porch is, of course, Napoleon. He is burried in the building just behind. Did you notice the nice decorations around the windows? I like them a lot.

In the courtyard you can see lots of cannons. They seem a bit smaller than the ones I saw in Fort Henry last year.

Here I am, here I am!

Further, you can see a small tank.

Finally, here comes the church in which Napoleon waits for eternity. I could not enter inside this time so definitely we need to make up for it on some other day.

Let's stroll now in the direction of the Latin District. First, we will pass next to the lower chamber of the French Parliament, located in Palais Bourbon.

Then we come to the Musee d'Orsay, housed in the former Gare d'Orsay. It exhibits mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, housing the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world.

To see it in full we need to jump just for a moment back to the Tuileries.

This was quite a long walk. Let's then take some rest in a nice French-style cafe.

A good cup of tea. This was exactly what I needed ...

Eiffel Tower

I am sure that since I came to Paris you were all waiting to see the most famous landmark of Paris - the Eiffel Tower. But to get there, we will take an unusual way - the river Seine. So let's jump on a Batobus (ship-bus).

Safety first! Everybody puts on the life jacket.

The river is calm, even the flag does not move.

We pass under the Alexander III bridge that I have already shown you when we were strolling down the Champs Elysees.

Finally, we arrive to the Tower. It was constructed in 1889 as preparation for the World Exhibiion (I am sure that you rememebr the Big and Small Palace built for the same purpose) by the company of the engineer Gustave Eiffel. By the way, I discovered that his original name was Bönickhausen. Just imagine "La Tour Bönickhausen".

The Eiffel Tower is located on the Fields of Mars, a public garden that starts next to the Military School. You will not be surprised that one of the cadets there was Napoleon.

 The queue to the entry is enourmous. You can hear all the languages.

Finally I got to the lift. It uses huge hydraulic pumps that go up and down as the lift moves throught the pillars.

Finally we get to the top. 280 meteres my friends. The tower used to be the tallest building in the world from 1889 to 1930 when GE Building and then the Empire State Building were constructed.

Obviously, the biggest attraction of the Eiffel Tower is the view. So let's tick off the most important landmarks of the city. First the river we came here by.

Then, turning clock-wise, the Grand Palace and the Alexander III bridge.

The left bank of the river next to the Tower.

The Invalides and far in the back Pantheon.

The Fields of Mars. Really impressive seen from the top.

The far distant financial district of la Defense.

Finally, the Trocadero with Palais de Chaillot, that houses museums and a theater, just on the other side of the river.

Did you know that the Eiffel Towe created lots of controversies? Many people considered that it is simply very ugly. Personally I believe it is beautiful. But everyone has to judge by himself.

Louvres and the Tuileries Gardens

Last time we reached the Tuileries Garden. It was created in 1564 by queen Catherine de Medicis. At that time it surrounded the Tuileries Palace that was destroyed by the Paris Commune in 1871 (just like the Vendôme Column from my last post). Today, the park is open to the public. It starts as you rememeber on the Place de la Concorde, with its Obelisk in the middle.

When you turn a bit left you will see the Eiffel Tower. Of course you may expect a separate story about it.

The garden is embellished by many flowers and trees in blossom.

In the middle you will see a fountain. On sunny and windy days kids play here with little sailing boats.

On the other side of the park you will see a majestous bulding. This amazing palace dates back to late 12th century.

The entry is guarded by Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. You will not be surprised to hear that it was built to commemorate the military victories of Napoleon. Modesty was for sure not the biggest virtue of the Empereur.

What I liked most was of course the quadriga on the top. Very similar to the one that I have shown you on the Opera House in Warsaw.

Finally, we arrive to the palace. 

You guessed it right - it is the Palace of Louvre, housing one of the world's largest museums, the Louvre Museum.

In the courtyard you cannot miss two things. The first one is the pyramide that hides the main entrance. It is made of glass but surprisingly fits quite well into the surrounding buildings.

The second one is the statue of le Roi-Soleil, king Louis 14th.

The crowd in the museum was immense so I decided to admire it this time only from the outside.

On the left from the Louvre you will step on the Pont des Arts that links Louvre with the Institute of France.

On the side of the bridge many couples attach padlocks with their names, throwing the key to the river, hoping thus to guarantee themselves eternal love.

So where is Wally? I mean where is Rickie? Here I come.

Institut the France is an organisation that groups French academic institutions, the most famous of which is the Académie française.

I then had a little walk on the right of Louvre, to see the Saint-Jacques Tower. I must tell you it is really a strange feeling to see out of a sudden suchs a high tower in the middle of a park. In fact, it used to be the belfry of a church that was part of chemins de Compostelle, the pilgrimage routes in France that led towards Santiago in the northwest of Spain. It is therefore part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church was demolished during the French Revolution.

Our last destination in the surroundings of Louvre is the Palais-Royal. It used to be the personal residence of Cardinal Richelieu. Later on some of the French kings lived there. Today it houses the Conseil d'État, the Constitutional Council, and the Ministry of Culture.

Around Champs Elysees

Some of you may remember that my first trip abroad was to France. Unfortunately, I have then spent only a few hours in Paris. I regretted it so deeply that I have decided to go there for a bit longer to appreciate its full beauty. So ladies and gentlemen - welcome to the capital of love and fashion.

To repeat a bit the way I went last time, I went down the Champs Elysees, starting at the Arc de Triomphe, standing in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle (called also l'Étoile - the Star).

After a nice walk, I went to the right, to see from close the palaces I only glimpsed at last time. First came the Big Palace (or Grand Palais), built for the Universal Exhibition held in 1900. It houses today numerous expositions of art. But not only art, the fashion house Chanel annually hosts many of its fashion shows here.

On the other side of the street you will see the Little Palace (or Petit Palais), housing the Museum of Fine Arts of Paris. No surprisingly, it was also built for the 1900 Exhibition.

If you go further the Avenue Winston Churchill you will arrive to the Bridge of Alexander III that connects the Champs-Élysées district and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower district. It was meant to commemorate the Franco-Russian Alliance concluded in 1892.

You can see the byzantine style with the golden figures ...

... and the inscriptions.

What I liked most were the old-fashioned lanterns.

Now let's go back and see what lies on the left of Champs Elysees. First of all, we cannot miss the Opera Garnier. It was built in the second half of 19th century and today welcomes mostly ballet spectacles. The operas are shown in the new Opera Bastille that I will show you on some other day.

Later on, let's have a look at La Madelaine.

Do not get fooled, we did not jump to Greece or to Rome in the meantime. The church was initially designed as a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army, based on forms typical for antique temples. After the fall of Napoleon the building was turned into a catholic church.

To the East, you will find the Place Vendôme. In the center stands the Vendôme Column. It was originally erected by Napoleon to commemorate the battle of Austerlitz. Destroyed by a decree of the Paris Commune it was subsequently rebuilt.

To the South of La Madelaine you will see another tall structure - the obelisk. It used to guard for over 3,000 years the entrance to the Luxor Temple in Egypt until Napoleon brought it to France. Now it stands in the middle of the largest square in Paris - the Place de la Concorde. Its twin still remains in Luxor.



On the right hand we have again the Champs Elysees. On our left hand we have the Tuileries Garden. But I will show it to you next time.