After the défilé, Meg and I just about managed to beat the crowds to the metro, and worked our way down to Les Invalides, where we hoped to see at least the church at this massive military hospital complex, before lunching in the garden of the Musée Rodin.
As we ascended from the metro, I espied a military helicopter coming into land in the park, and caught some video for a Daddy-specific purpose. Seeing a second, I switched the camera back on, and caught two further helicopters coming in. Unfortunately, I was standing under a big floppy tree, and we all know what helicopters do to wind currents. About 45 seconds in you can hear me getting whacked in the face.
Les Invalides has a huge golden Dome that can be seen for miles around.
Inside, there is a splendid Louis XIV interior.
This great church of the Sun King was appropriated for Napoleon’s tomb, and he lies in a terribly immodest casket (what would you expect?) in a great hollow in the floor. They call it the crypt, but at any rate it’s a crypt with a skylight.
We have Napoleonic outfits, should you want to see the very coat in which Napoleon stood.
The altar – and, to be honest, with a great big pit dug out of the floor I have to wonder why it even needs an altar any more – is lit through eerily orange windows in each side.
My favourite part, however, was the new memorial to the Great War in one of the alcoves.
Alas, the Rodin garden was closed for the holiday, so all we could do was gaze longingly upon the entry stickers that were plastered over civic property for several hundred metres in all directions.
Instead, we found a shady park in which to sit.
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