7/11- The Catacombs!- Talk about preconceptions...Annie (my roommate), Kate (a friend), and I paid a visit to the infamous catacombs below the city of Paris. I was surprised at how neatly the bones were arranged, and with designs even. I must admit I had expected it to be an Indiana Jones-like booby-trapped maze with remnants of the deceased flying at you and spiders attached to the walls waiting to strike...no such thing! I can't say if I was disappointed or relieved...
Nevertheless it's worth a trip to see how 16th/17th century Paris decided to store the departed.
7/12 Second trip to the Louvre
- Again, the Denon wing, this time to see European Romantic and Renaissance art, including that saucy minx, the Mona Lisa. (She's really not THAT tiny guys) <--but, again, I was expecting to see a 3x5 index card after hearing that for years. The other paintings in the wing were the eye-catchers, in my opinion. The Grande Odalisque, The Raft of the Medusa...etc! Unfortunately, the camera ran out of battery, but I anticipate going back.
7/13 Les Invalides
- Went with art and architecture to view L'Hotel national des Invalides, hosting Napoleon's tomb. The building itself is ornate in every way---> a gold plated dome, a replica of Bernini's Baldacchino in St. Peter's basilica, and so much more. Napoleon's resting place is a large. swirly coffin made of red porphyry, and holds several other tombs inside of marble, lead, and gold. How's that for a way out? Oddly enough Napoleon planned his burial situation detail for detail before he died.... too bad he didn't get to see it.
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