The hotel was built in 1670 by Louis XIV to house his wounded soldiers. Napoleon also visited his troops there between 1808-1815. It now houses a military museum.
We didn't have time to go to the museum but we did look at the free armor and weapons displays.
this one reminds me of Howard the Duck LOL
these look very steampunk
The Dome Church was the royal chapel 1677-1706.
it seemed so strange to have a large glass
window behind the altar and we wondered what
it was
Turns out that on the other side of that window is the tomb of Napoleon.
Napoleon died in 1815 while in exile. King Louis-Philippe had his remains brought back in 1840 and gave him a state funeral. The work was started on the tomb in 1842 and his body was laid to rest here in 1861. It is a spectacular memorial!
the entrance to the tomb forged in bronze from cannons
from Austerlitz
even the floor was beautiful
his body is nested inside 6 coffins inside
Napoleon as emperor
one of 10 reliefs of his reign
the tomb of one of his sons
Walked to a small cafe nearby for a light supper of escargot, sea bearm, ratatouille, and wine. It was lovely. Met a couple from the east coast sitting next to us.
It was still raining, but we did a bit of souvenir shopping, stopped at a grocery store (my favorite place to check out everywhere we go), and a pharmacy to get something for our poor aching muscles. To make ourselves feel better, we bought macaroons. Ok, I got macaroons. They were divine!
We also walked by the little Lutheran church...
Even though it was dark and rainy, we walked down to the pier to catch our free river cruise ride. Nice to just sit inside and be dry while the city flowed by. Pictures just didn't work through drippy windows in the dark...
Walked back, in the rain, to the hotel.Turns out people are out late in Paris, unless it's raining...
We were soaked by the time we got back. Hung everything out to dry, took hot showers, repacked our bags and hit the sack.
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