Paris, France: Day Three - Invalides, Napolean's Tomb, Musee D'Orsey, "movie Americain" and late night crepe eating

Wow, that's long title. But it's fitting for the LONGEST DAY EVER. Yesterday we got up wicked early at 6:30. We had the alarm set for 6:45, but some loud banging in the hallways which I suspect was the girl next door trying to get me back woke me at 6:30. The plan was to go to Versailles for the day, but upon learning the the weather wasn't going to be too agreeable we decided it was a day for museums.

We bought a museum pass the other day that gets you into most of the Parisian museums and Versailles. The beauty of this pass is that you walk right by all those people waiting in line for tickets and immediately get into the museum. I absolutely hate waiting in lines and to be able to avoid that incredible waste of time is, well, heavenly.

After a getting ready and throwing down a quick breakfast of granola and coffee, we headed out to one of the nearest train stations and made our way to the Invalides stop.

I'm learning that even with three maps (yes, we are carrying three different maps of Paris) it's never as easy to find what you are looking for as you think it will be. After some discussion, Ryan and I headed in what we believed was the right direction. A word about map "discussion": the later it gets the more unpleasant this type of "discussion" gets. Trying to figure out where you are going at one in the morning after a very long day is not fun.

We arrived at the complex Hotel Invalides and began our search for Napoleon's tomb. Amazingly, we couldn't find it, so we decided to hit the WWI and WWII Museum first. I'd read about the museum and how it good it is and was excited to visit. We must have spent two or three hours there. As much as I've learned about both of these wars, I still had much more to learn. We didn't realize that WWI began because of one assassination that happened in Serbia. When you see it all unfold in front of your eyes -- from the one death to millions of deaths and the destruction of much of Europe--it's so clear how stupid war is. It doesn't make any sense. It was all for nothing.

And than, only a few decades later, the whole world was in another war. This time, I understood why the allies did what they did. Hitler is responsible for this war. I have to admit as I walked through the museum and saw the photos of the destruction, I felt anger towards Hitler and all those in Europe who went along with him during that time period. The section on the internment camps for political prisoners and then the concentration camps that we all know about was sobering. So sad and so wrong.

I think of my grandparents and how they and there friends lived through and died in these wars. While my generation is aware of war, we've had no idea what it's like for the whole country to be involved like it was in WWII. It makes me respect what that "the greatest generation" went through and hope that we never have a war of that magnitude again.

Okay, that's enough of the serious stuff. We moved on from the army museum and had a little quiche (yes, real men eat quiche!) and coffee then hunted down the illusive tomb of Napoleon.

After being in the ground for a couple of decades, he was retrieved by the government of France (apparently his body was perfectly preserved at this point) and placed in the tomb that was visited. Get this -- if you could open it up, you would find an oak coffin, then and ebony one, two lead ones, then a mahogany one, and finally a tin one which holds the little emperor. Now that is a serious coffin, fit for a king (or a self declared emperor).

Next stop the Arms and Armour display. This was Ryan's personal favorite (and my least favorite). With his background in Kendo and general interest in ancient warrior techniques, he got a real kick out of the the sets of armour and especially the swords. It is really amazing to think that people wore this stuff and fought in wars using it. Ryan showed me a few incredibly long and heavy swords and said that the trick was to beat on each other until one person got to tired to swing the sword anymore. At that point, the one with more endurance had the advantage and could run the other through. Fun.

Not surprisingly, after hours at the Invalides complex we were too worn out to attack the Louvre so we decided to go to the Musee D'Orsay instead.

The Musee D'Orsay was originally a train station and in the 1970s it was about to be destroyed by a wrecking ball. Thank goodness it wasn't, because it's a beautiful building. Now it houses much of France's 19th century art. While we didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted, it was amazing to see the originals of many impressionist pieces that I've own prints off or had on a mouse pad or two. We were listening to Rick Steve's free podcast tour and got a unique perspective from that. He pointed out how the realists Manet, Millet and others turned the art world on it's head and how the impressionist like Monet and Renoir really weren't accepted by the French art world for some time and were even made fun of.

We were kicked out of the museum. Well, not really. They were closing and we had to leave. We decided to try our luck with the bus system and waited for what we thought was the right bus. After a few stops, I realized we were going the wrong way -- no big deal. We were interested in the area of Montparnasse and this bus was heading in that direction, so we stayed on.

We got off in a busy square in the heart of Montparnasse and Ryan recognized several restaurants as ones that Hemingway had written about in his novels (I am reading "A Movable Feast" while in Paris and Ryan has already read several times). One thing I didn't mention yet in my blogging is that Hemingway is a big part of this trip. Ryan greatly admires his writing and is fascinated with his life (although we both know that it was a sad life in many ways and didn't end well).

We decided that we would walk to the Jardin du Luxembourg because wanted to see it again (we loved sitting in it and reading the last time we were here 10 years ago). One the way we found a small cafe that was on our list to try called Bread and Roses. We sat outside in the cool evening air and feasted on a large piece of quiche (more quiche!), and a soft and sweet loaf of brioche with butter and jam. And of course, we had a cafe creme.

After what we decided was dinner, we walked into the Jardin and say for a while near the beautifully landscaped center next to the Palais du Luxembourg where the French senate meets. We wanted to see a movie (even though were were both exhausted) and with our trusty Blackberry, found out that the new Johnny Depp film about John Dillinger was playing in Montparnasse. I is called "Public Enemy" here. We walked some more (so much walking today) and bought our tickets, then stopped at a cafe and each had a glass of red wine.

It was fun to watch the movie surrounded by French people. Really, you just feel like you are in Boston except your the only ones speaking English.

After the movie (about midnight) we stopped for a late night crepe and then hopped on the subway to head home. When we arrived at our stop (a stop we had not yet been to) we got out and began to climb winding stairs. Every time we would climb one set of stairs we would turn the corner and find another set -- this must have happened six or seven times! We were so tired and our legs were killing us. We finally arrived that the top, but couldn't figure out how to get the doors open to exit. We pushed a button that read "Sortie" (exit) only to set off an alarm. We quickly went through he door, got a dirty look from someone behind the glass window and then made a dash for the stairs as if to not get caught.

Once we made it to the street, it took a little while and some "discussion" (as I mentioned earlier) to find our way, but we did. And remember, we still have many many stairs to climb before we reach the top of Montmartre, where we are staying.

Needless to say, when we got in from the longest day EVER in Paris, we decided that we would not go to Versailles tomorrow, as we had planned, but that we would sleep in as late as we could and rest our aching feet and legs. And that is what we did.