CLASS FIELD TRIP to the tomb of Napoleon, which was originially a veterans hospital so it's called Les Invalides. There was all this drama about where they were going to bury the guy (he'd been kicked out of France twice after his power went to his head, but at the same time be really spruced the place up and implemented some good law codes among other things). They eventually decided on the veterans hospital for his final resting place because he'd done so much for the military and the troops never had beef with him. His tomb (which actually looks like a giant sleigh. I was waiting for Santa to pop out) is a 7 layer deal, the outer layer grander than the rest. It's surrounded by all of his military victories (and ultimately street names in Paris/ Metro stops. Paris fun fact!) The tomb has some sweet engravings I could go on about, but my favorite part was the use of snakes (apparently snakes in engravings and statues have very different meanings depending on how they are portrayed. For example, one snake around a staff is the symbol for medicine, but a snake over your heart is envy) Napoleon's first engraving was him with "snakes underfoot" meaning he's trampling the many headed demon known as anarchy!! You go Napoleon.
Les Invaldies also serves as the final resting place for many other generals. The hospital (pre-hospital days) was a church for Louis XIV, aka the Sun King. He and his troops used to pray together (made the troops feel special). There's also a great hall with all these flags of places Napoleon had conquered, it looks pretty sick and it was a nice change from the symmetry, gold, and marble I'm used to seeing. The weather has been pretty tricky, started with a heat wave and now it's constantly wet and gloomy but the sky is amazing. The pictures don't do justice. When we arrived at Les Invalides, the sky was partly serene, a beautiful blue and the other half was a big angry storm...the literally met right over the dome! Oh to have weather in CA...
Sleigh ride! err Tomb ride...?
Each flag is a different region Napoleon owned
The pictures don't do justice for the clouds!
A DIFFERENT KIND OF HISTORY SIDE NOTE: In my history class, we're discussing original fairytales. We just read the real story of Little Red Riding hood. My childhood has forever been changed. The wolf not only eats the grandma, but serves fillets of her flesh to Little Red. The cat warns the girl, verbatim from the story, “Slut! To eat the flesh and drink the blood of your grandmother!” Then he makes Little Red get naked and eats her in bed. Umm, ew? Original Sleeping Beauty (my princess growing up) has also been tainted, apparently Prince Charming is already married, and he “ravishes” the sleeping princess who then bears his several children without waking up. An infant breaks the spell by biting her when nursing. Then Prince Charming's angry mother-in-law of his real wife goes apeshit and eats all of Sleeping Beauty's babies. rude, she didn't even mean to have them! I don't know why Disney changed the plot, I mean this seems totally appropriate for small children. As for Cinderella? She demoted herself to servant girl so she wouldn't have to marry her father. Umm, ew??
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