Day 9a - A Drive Through the French Countryside

For the events of Saturday, September 5, 2009

5:30 AM - Just woke up. Big day ahead, and wanted to get an early start. Too early to get breakfast at the buffet (doesn't open until 6:30) so hopefully I can find something to eat before too long.

6:07 AM - Just heading out the door. I'm taking the Metro to the Cityrama office at 2 rue des Pyramides, a 2 minutes walk off the Tuileires station -which is right at end of Louvre and before the Jardin de Tuileries.

6:18 - when I got to the train station, I had to buy a ticket at a machine, and for some reason they had no English option. Apparently they think anglophones only take the RRT not Metro. I had a big struggle figuring out if I picked the right option, but when the right price came up, I decided to take a chance and bought it.

Lots of very young and very drunk guys on train and around the platform. Isn't it a bit late to still be up and drinking? One was peeing outside in the street when I was coming in the station. His friends must be so proud.

I should gave left earlier and now I'm panicking. I went by the station yesterday on RER but don't see option on the map for RER, which is more of an express train. This train is much slower and stops a lot, so I started to get worried that it may take close to the 21 min the app suggested. If so, I'm going to almost be late, and I won't even know for sure where the office is when I first get there! Thankfully it's not rush hour, train isn't automated and it will only stay at the station long enough for new passengers, so I should be OK.

6:26 AM - Well, there was no reason to worry - I'm at Tuileries station already! I need to be there at 6:45, and apparently it's only a 2 minute walk.

6:39 AM - I found a big gold statue of Joan of Arc (see picture left, click for larger) in a square not far from the station, and saw the Cityrama office, with about 20 people here already. I went outside and took a picture of what I thought was our bus, and driver got out and rudely asked me why I was taking pictures. Duh. I asked if this was not our bus, and he just stormed off! What a jackass. The staff at desk were not friendly either but whatever - not going to let these people get to me today. Just glad this is my last day here.

Bus #3 was ours to Landing Beaches and a relatively friendly French lady took my ticket. This is a really nice luxury coach. I got a seat that had a table in front of it for some reason, behind some stairs that led down to a bathroom.

I wonder if they serve snacks? It must be an hour or two out there and I'm starving - stomach rumbling. Sigh.

6:56 AM - We're leaving in 4 minutes and the bus (see picture right, click for larger) is by no means full - in fact, only 3 couples and 1 Asian family of 4 are on here so far, plus the guide and driver - 12 people on a bus seating 46. This is going to be a good day I think!

7:05 AM - the sun was just coming up when our tour guide, Helene, and the driver got on the bus, started it and we were off. We were told we pick up 13 more people just 2 blocks away, which is a bit weird. Must be a tour group at a hotel or something? Bus thermometer says it's 13C. Bus got a bit noisy as we picked up people so I listened to music.

The guide handed our a nice full color 13-page program on D-Day with their logo on it - nice touch.

We were told we had to make a stop out of town in 45 minutes to change drivers. The tour guide said we are going to Caen first, at around 10:15. It's a long trip out there - 3 hours away. We are visiting a new museum out there and then watching a D-Day movie. Then we have a prepared lunch at noon at the museum. We then go to the Omaha Beach first, then American cemetery (9,300 graves), the British beach at Arromanches where they sunk many ships to build a false harbor, and finally at the end of day we are going to Juno Beach and a Canadian memorial centre after that. We apparently don't go inside, but can get pictures of the beach. We then stop at a gas station at 7 PM to grab sandwiches, and back by about 9:30.

My camera fell on the floor and battery flew down the bus stairs in front of me. Luckily I have extras on my pocket but need it for later. Luckly I spotted it on the floor and grabbed it. Whew. The tour guide said that 80,000 Germans, 50,000 Allies and 40,000 citizens died at Normandy.

Something we never see in North America - lap seatbelts are mandatory on the bus, and we must wear them.

7:25 AM - as we left Paris we drove through a long tunnel the Nazis used to store ammunition. The Allies tried to bomb it - one of few places in the city, but they couldn't destroy it. Paris was one of the only European cities not bombed on either side, so it was virtually untouched. The liberation of Paris happened very quickly - in fact they celebrate August 25 every year as Liberation Day - just 2.5 months after D-Day. That's a lot of territory in only a few weeks - it was a 3 hour drive between D-Day to Paris, with 100,000s (get#) of Germans between. Hitler threw everything remaining in thus battle to avoid losing Western Europe.

The German commander of Paris was ordered by Hitler to destroy the city's monuments after D-Day but he refused. As a result, when war was over, he only served 4 years in prison for saving the city. Many other German generals were executed by the Allies.

The countryside of France was at first dense forest - more than I've seen in many places (see picture left, click for larger) - and then farmland. Still not bright enough outside to get good pictures - all glare from inside the bus.

7:50 AM - We stopped at rest area and changed drivers, who's now with us all day. I was surprised that the freeways look like they do in Canada, with McDonald's along the way, etc. Only the signs are different.

8:01 AM - We just stopped at a toll booth, which looked much like ours in Canada.

8:15 AM - Just discovered we have free Wifi on the bus! I wish I'd brought my laptop now, could have worked on my blog for hours. Oh well, I should sleep too, because I'm so hungry I can't think.

8:26 AM - Just passed a huge digital clock on the freeway overpass - never seen anything like it. What's the point of that?

8:28 AM - We just came up to a second toll booth (see picture right, click for larger)!

9:04 AM - It's starting to rain outside a bit here - much cloudier ahead. Yikes. I'm getting worried - I don't want to be on the beaches with rain.

9:09 AM - Just came up to very heavy rain now. It's only 12C here - glad I brought 2 jackets!

9:13 AM - Thank God the rain ended very quickly, and there's nothing but blue sky ahead. That was a big surprise!

9:16 AM - I can't believe it - a 3rd toll booth

9:18 AM - The guide said we'd be there in 45 min. The tour guide said "Normandy" means 'north man land'. The Vikings used to invade France and ransack it all the time, and the governor of the area decided it was just easier to give them this land than keep losing it in a blood bath anyway - so the people in the area may well be more Norwegian or Danish than French. These people have a long history of capitulating to invaders!

9:37 AM - I can't believe it - a 4th toll booth! I can't even imagine having to drive this all the time. And the tolls were something like 10€ for a car!

We'll be arriving soon in Caen, our first stop at the D-Day beach tour. Stay tuned!

Day 8c - Elegant Eiffel and Cruising On the Seine

For the events of Friday, September 4, 2009

6:45 pm - After getting back to the hotel around 5:00 PM and relaxing for awhile and
working on my blog, I looked out the window and saw that the clouds had truly begun to

disappear and the weather had improved dramatically, which I was very pleased with (see picture left, click for larger), just as the sun was going down. I decided to lay down for about an hour or so as I was really exhausted, but was ready to go out and see the
fantastic Eiffel Tower at night, which they just turned on the lights.

8:45 PM - Only slept for an hour because I was really excited to get going. I quickly went to the RER C train station, and it took it for about 20 minutes to Champ du Mars / Tour Eiffel

9:05 PM - I arrived and exited - at the wrong station. I wasn't paying attention to the signs in the station, just my map, and didn't notice it had one more station on the map before Eiffel station that I couldn't see at first. So now I'm at Avenue du President Kennedy station, right by the enormous Radio France main building - and it's 15 min to the next train. I debated for a minute walking to the Tour, as I assumed it couldn't be far away, but I can't even see the Tower for buildings and it's a full moon - so I'll wait. It's a bit creepy and quiet here tonight, but calm. Got some nights shots around here.

9:26 PM - train finally came and within 3 minutes, exited at the Eiffel station. I could

immediately see the very top of the Eiffel Tower and it's enormous lighthouse-like search light sweeping the skies above peeking over nearby buildings. I walked about a block down the street, and when the Eiffel came into full view I admit I gasped out loud. At night it's amazing - and it's unbelievably huge (click picture right, click for larger).

I'm speechless - this makes the Sydney Opera House seem so insignificant. Only the Statue of Liberty compares for man-made monuments, and as I've mentioned before I believe, it's the #1 most visited monument in the world. I still can't believe it's glowing in front of me. It takes your breath away.

The Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair, and until the Chrysler Building opened in New York in 1930, it was the world's tallest structure. It's 1,063 foot muscular strength looms over you as you walk up to it - as tall as an 81-story skyscraper (the CN Tower in Toronto is shockingly almost twice as tall!). I decided early on that, due to the wind, etc. I wasn't going to go up on the observation decks at all - I'm scared of heights, and I had a bit of a scare at the Empire State Building's outdoor viewing area that I don't plan to repeat. The Empire State building feels like it's sucking you off the ledge if you get too close, due to the wind sheer. Of course, the Tower wouldn't have that same problem, being completely hollow, but I still wasn't really game on chancing it.

The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to walk up either on stairs or ascend with elevators to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is only accessible by elevator, and both the first and second levels feature restaurants, which I'm sure would be amazing to eat in, but you'd need reservations weeks in advance to get in. There were hundreds of people milling around, and it was actually a bit of a carnival atmosphere - which frankly made me a bit uncomfortable, as I didn't see a single policeman anywhere.

9:50 PM - I knew that the last boat of the night was going out at 10:00 PM on the Seine boat cruise and I didn't want to miss it - this is probably my last chance to go out. So I quickly walked about a block from the Tower to the Seine River (the Tower is on its bank) and found the Bateaux Parisiens dock, and the boat was just starting to load.The boat (see picture left, click for larger) had a large interior seating area with a windowed ceiling (which wasn't very clean) and windowed walls. You could also sit outside in a row of seats, which I decided to do once the boat started, because it was impossible to take any good pictures out of the windows being so dirty. There was a tour audioguide of the buildings you saw on the shores of the Seine, which you listened to with a little telephone unit, pressing 2 for English in my case. There are many other companies like this one that tour the River every night, and some of them looked much more modern than ours, with big floodlights shining up the sides of the famous buildings on the banks, like Notre Dame Cathedral, etc.

10:00 PM - The lights in the boat were turned out, and we set off. We went for about 1/2 hour down the river, turned and came back, seeing many of the great buildings of Paris. I was frustrated that, due to the poor lighting and movement on the boat, I couldn't take good photos, but have great videos to show later. Honestly, you don't get to see that much from the River, so if you are thinking you will get to see everything that Paris has to offer from the boat, think again. It's a nice little ride, but it's not like taking a tour bus through the city for sure. But it was free (comped by the hotel) so I can't complain.

By the time we got 1/2 way it became brutally cold - so bad, in fact, that I could hardly hold the camera straight to video. I'm also starving - never had supper.

11:09 PM - just as we pulled back to the harbor and were getting off the boat, suddenly

the Eiffel Tower lit up like a Christmas tree with flashing colored lights - everyone went "oooooh ahhhhh" and practically stampeded off the boat to get pictures, which was a bit dangerous and again irritating, but whatever - I got a few good shots myself (see picture right, click for larger).11:28 PM - trains are truly pathetic here at night, and it's a Friday! They only run every 15-20 minutes! I have to leave hotel by 6:15 so won't get much sleep but it was worth it. Could have done this all on Saturday night but I don't really know when we're coming back, and the sky was clear tonight, which was perfect for Eiffel night pictures.

11:46 PM - Bizarre - sign kept saying a train to Versailles was coming at 11:30 - and never came! I was worried something was wrong with system but after 20 minutes, my train came and I got on it - tired, starving and freezing but happy to see the best sights of Paris tonight. This has been a frustrating and irritating day but ended great - could even see the full moon tonight clearly. Could barely see across town this morning with the rain.

A few trampy drunks were on the train but I'm listening to music and ignoring them. One clearly has attention deficit disorder or something - she's jerking around to music like she has Parkinson's or something. At the moment I'm concentrating on writing this blog so I don't kick her through a window - haha.

I'm only kind of kidding - she's a real dumbass.

12:39 AM - Finally got back to the hotel, and decided to risk room service again. Chose curry chicken and rice with Coke, and it was very good, though again, about 30€. Ate quickly and then went to sleep - big day tomorrow!

 

Day 8b – The Magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral and Louvre

For the events of Friday, September 4, 2009

10:15 AM - After going down to breakfast, I came back to the room to see that the rain clouds had seemingly weakened, and the sun was starting to come out. I quickly finalized my final plans for a big a day of travelling. Today I plan to see all of the biggest icons of Paris in one day - it's a bit of a stretch whether I can actually make it happen or not, but will definitely try!

I took the RER C train to the Saint Michel-Notre Dame station. As I exited, I could see a big crowd was starting to already gather about a block away. I had to cross a small bridge over the Seine river, which was frankly unmemorable, and as I crossed the far end of the bridge, I was actually on Île de la Cité or "Island of the City".

This little area is actually the first site of the 2,000 year old city of Paris, and right in front of me, in all of its 800 year old glory, was Notre Dame ("Our Lady") Cathedral - the seat of the Archbishop of Paris (see picture left, click for larger). This beautiful cathedral, which took over 200 years to build, was just opened a few minutes before, and already seems to have busloads of tourists in it's big open courtyard in the front of the building.

The building itself is amazing - you are immediately drawn to all of the incredible statues of saints and sinners that adorn it's walls and buttresses (see picture right, click for larger). A man close to me said "it looks like the rain is gone" and his wife said "hallelujah", and for some reason I thought I could trust them to take my picture with my camera, so came up and introduced myself. They were really friendly, and we got a few good shots for each other in front of the massive Cathedral.

A minute or two later, a lady came up and asked if I spoke English, and when I said yes, she held up a weird sign talking about how she was from Bosnia and had all these kids to take care of blah blah. She looked like a stereotypical image of a gypsy and I was immediately on guard. I knew something was up here - why not just talk to me if you spoke English too? And if not, how did you write the sign in English? She kept getting closer, and I laughed and said "sorry honey, my pockets are zippered closed" and walked away - she looked a little stunned at being found out, but quickly scurried on to the next sucker. And to think she was trying to pickpocket me in front of a Church!

I followed a big group of what sounded like Italian-speaking people into the church, and heard the massive bass of the pipe organ playing as my eyes adjusted to the darkness for about a minute or two before it stopped - it was really amazing to hear it! And for the next hour, that was the only time it was played, so it was a real treat. I caught some of it on video to capture the sound.

I spent about the next hour walking around and looking at statues of Archbishops and others who were buried within the walls, and spent a bit of time at the front altar of the church. I have to admit, not being Catholic, that the Cathedral, beyond it's architecture, wasn't of much interest to me anymore, and it was unbelievably crowded. Big tour groups of Italians (not sure why there were so many) were literally filling all of the corridors to the point you couldn't walk around them. I was starting to feel claustrophobic, so decided to get back outside.

11:30 AM - I crossed back over the bridge and away from the crowds, to get a few pictures of the backside of the Cathedral (see picture left, click for larger) , and got some nice shots. The rain clouds seemed to be getting darker and closer as time went on, and I was getting concerned that my whole day was going to be wrecked. It was by no means hot outside, but whatever, I wasn't going to quit unless it literally was pouring.

I made a call to the tour group I was going on tomorrow, and I'm glad I did - found out that the Metro stop they had stated in the brochure was best to go to (Palais Royal/Louvre) was in fact a 10 minute walk. I needed to go to Tuileries station, and it was only a 2 minute walk. I was to look for a courtyard with a gold statue, and the Cityrama office was apparently right there. I found out I was confirmed for tomorrow morning, and was to be there at 6:45 AM. I'm getting excited now - hope the weather improves!

11:45 AM - Found a great little souvenir shop and spent about 20 minutes finding some Eiffel Towers, keychains, etc. for folks, friends and work colleagues back home. In hindsight it wasn't the smartest thing I did all day, but stuff was cheap. Now I have to haul it all around with me! I have a schedule to keep and I don't want to go all the way back to the hotel to drop stuff off, but was tempted to after I carried everything out.

I was walking up the street, parallel to the Seine River, and saw a few little booksellers (see picture right, click for larger) that I'd read about that were open and selling things. Apparently they have been doing this exact same thing for over 400 years in this area. The booths almost look like big green garbage bins - they flip open a lid that's locked down to the street, and up pops a bunch of tables with books, etc. on them.

In case you are tempted to bypass this area of the city as being cheap tourist junk, think again. These are real genuine antique bookstore owners who sell some amazing nostalgic stuff - I bought a bunch of litho copies of a painting of the Eiffel Tower for people back home, and continued to head down the street back to the Metro.

1:15 PM - To get the to the Louvre, I had to first transfer to the Châtelat Metro station. I got on the RER B train and was there in just a few minutes. I was stunned at how enormous this place was - it is clearly the Grand Central Station of Paris. It's named after Grand Châtelet - a castle destroyed by Napoleon in 1802 after the Revolution. It was so big it had about 6 or 7 stores in the main atrium area, which was like the spoke of a wheel, with all the corridors leading down to the various trains branching from it. This particular station is the connector for 7 Metro stations and 4 RER stations, and was already incredibly busy.

I had to walk all the way down from one end of the station to another, which according to Wikipedia - is more than 1 kilometre long! In fact, I had to go down two different moving sidewalks (see picture right, click for larger) to get to the last platform for Line 7 - which was to take me to the Louvre Metro station. It took nearly 15 minutes to walk all the way through the station, getting lost a few times and finally getting on Line 7 train, which is again one of the little LRT style trains that are so old and over-used.

2:00 PM - after about a 20 minute ride, I was at the Louvre station, and exited to a beautiful art deco exterior which I had to stop and take a picture of (see picture left, click for larger). I was clearly in the artsy section of the city. It was located in a little park, that had a comedy theatre beside it.

When you exit the station, you come up into a little square, with the Hotel du Louvre behind you, something like looked like an embassy to the left, an antique mall across a little courtyard, and to the right, the magnificent, several-block-long Musee du Louvre.

2:50 PM - I spent a bit of time wandering around the neighbourhood, which seemed to be full of people but empty of sights, so I walked back to the courtyard, walked up to the Louvre. There was a walkway that went through the outer ring of the Louvre to the inner courtyard and main entrance. As I did, I walked by huge floor to ceiling windows that were showcasing some beautiful sculptures and statues inside. I wasn't planning to go inside the Louvre at all, because I had a lot I wanted to do today, and I wasn't really into art to that degree. But this was a neat little treat (see picture right, click for larger).

Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre - or simply "the Louvre" — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (neighbourhood). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 652,300 square feet.

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which was a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II - and parts of the fortress are still visible. In 1672, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being confiscated church and royal property. The size of the collection increased under Napoleon when the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After his defeat at Waterloo, many works seized by Napoleon's armies were returned to their original owners. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; and Prints and Drawings.

3:00 PM - I exited into the inner courtyard of the Louvre, which features the Pyramid. Suddenly the sky's opened up and it just started pouring rain. The courtyard had been just full of people and they scurried to all sides of the courtyard to escape the rain, including myself. I hadn't brought an umbrella because I didn't really think it was going to rain in the afternoon - this sucked. I thought it would last forever, but a major wind came up out of nowhere all of a sudden, and within minutes the sky's temporarily cleared - long enough for me to a get a few dismal shots in front of the Museum. Sigh.

3:30 PM - soon it started to rain again, and I lost patience. I was tired, had been hauling the souvenir bag around for hours and was ready now to get back to the hotel. I had actually had seen most of the sights today on my list. I crossed the street back to the courtyard, and walked down a block-long area with souvenirs, restaurants, etc. It was crowded, noisy and irritating.

I came up to a restaurant called Rivoli Cafe and bought a quiche that looked like a pizza (see picture left, click for larger). It was really quite awful - very greasy, but it was only about 2,50€ so I couldn't resist. I was pretty irritated to see a McDonald's a block away, however - I should have eaten there instead. I was already feeling a bit upset before I even left the area.

Then I had an extremely irritating follow-up trying to find a bank or currency exchange that would break my 50€ bills, because they were sticking up outside my wallet, advertising to everyone who wanted to see, and made me nervous. First I went to two different currency exchange places, and asked where a bank was at both. Both said they didn't know where one was. Turned the corner, there was a bank. Good lord.

I waited in line at the bank for over 20 minutes and they wouldn't break my bill, and the currency exchange places wouldn't either. One actually told me to go to a supermarket and buy something. I told him to drop dread and stormed out.

4:04 PM - This was the Paris that sadly many warned me about - ignorant, unhelpful, rude barbarians. But I do not believe these are true Parisians, just as I don't believe this tourist nightmare is a real cross-section of the wonderful city. I admit I was starting to get really sick of the city at this point, and wanted to go home, but knew I was just overreacting and tired, so headed back to the hotel to relax before heading out tonight.

As I left the area of the Louvre, it was really starting to rain again by now, so I was getting discouraged that I wouldn't get to go out tonight, but I was going to go on the boat cruise whether it was nice out or not.

More adventure to follow!

Day 8a - A Dismal Morning

For the morning of Friday, September 4, 2009

8:00 AM - woke up to my alarm this morning and looked out the window - blah. What a hideously grey and rainy morning, and I have a full day of outdoor stuff to do! Yet, I literally watched out the window for about 10 minutes, and the grey clouds literally blocked out the top of the Eiffel Tower (see player left, click for larger). In all of the European Union, only the UK, western France and Spain will not see rain today. Supposed to clear off here in Paris and warm up this afternoon, and then be nicer tomorrow.

Boulevard périphérique de Paris (the "peripheral boulevard of Paris") is a ring-road that goes around the entire city (see map right, click for larger) - the busiest and most unbelievably-congested freeway in all of Europe. It flows right under my hotel window by the Palais des Congres - I'm at the exit named Porte Maillot in the northwest corner.

This freeway creates the borders of Paris proper (2 million people) and it's suburbs in every direction (9 million). I was just watching it out the window and realized I've never seen it when it's not bumper-to-bumper (see picture left, click for larger) in both directions. Only late at night does it finally calm down. This photo was taken at 9:25 AM, which would seem like very late for rush hour traffic. At 7 PM, after I'd come back from the Congress for the day, it would still be backed up like this.

Thought I'd find out more about why. Learned that, according to Wikipedia, more than 1.2 million cars, transporting the equivalent of the entire population of Alberta (over 2 million people), will use this freeway today alone. Mind-boggling.

BBC's top new story this morning came from North Korea, which has just announced it has enriched uranium for the first time (had done the same with plutonium recently). This gives it a 2nd way to create a nuclear weapon, violating many world treaties. South Korea has rightly called this 'intolerable', and Japanese and European leaders are calling it outrageous - many of the Eastern NATO countries in Europe would be within range of a rocket attack. I'm glad my friend Chris isn't visiting Seoul anymore.

On a lighter note, a bizarre video is playing on CNN International this morning of an interview done in Tokyo recently with the brand-new First Lady of Japan, Miyuki Hatoyama (her husband was elected just two days ago as Prime Minister). She once wrote in a book that she rode on a triangular-shaped UFO to Venus, but now claims on a Japanese talk show that she eats the sun every morning for breakfast: “Like this, yum, yum, yum. It gives me enormous energy.” She also confessed her husband does the same. She also met Tom Cruise in a previous life, and he was Japanese.

If I were in Tokyo, I'd be calling my local government Elections office and demanding I get my vote back.

Day 7c - The Musée de l'Armée - War Museum

For the events of Thursday, September 3, 2009

2:15 PM - now, I've been to lots of war museums - lots of them. Not the Canadian one yet in Ottawa, though I'm dying to go someday. Hit some good ones in Washington, etc. etc. But to say you've been to the biggest in the world is always fun - and to visit probably the best one in the world is even more fun.

2:25 PM - took a few minutes (and I really mean just a few) to tour the "Historical Charles de Gaulle" museum, which was dedicated last year by President Nicolas Sarkozy in memory of the leader of Free France during the war with Hitler. Most of France was occupied by the Nazis, but of course De Gaulle led the part of the country that was not occupied - I won't get into the reasons why all of France wasn't overtaken by Hitler, but it is complicated to say the least.

While de Gaulle in the minds of most French is considered a great hero, I personally don't get it - and the museum was as dull as Sasquatch's razor blades. They gave you an audioguide to listen to, and every time you stepped in a certain zone, it would start up. However, if you overstepped, it would also shut down, or it would say "sorry, this isn't translated into English yet". Ho hum, next! Spent 10 frustrating minutes in there listening to drivel about how he liberated his country (um, what?) and then left.

2:35 PM - I then took a moment to tour the Musée de l'Armée, which I thought would have tanks, airplanes, um....even guns that weren't from the 1700s would have been nice. It was a dreadfully boring exhibit filled with about 2 city blocks of old army uniforms and guns/swords from the 1600-1900s (when France still had some reason to boast). Honestly, I was about to leave the museum altogether, when I turned a corner and fell into an exhibit on the French Revolution. I thought - ooh, guillotines and other fun stuff. Um, no. More uniforms and guns. Sigh. The only thing that was remotely of interest was one of Emperor Napoleon's outfits from 1799 (see picture right, click for larger). It was stuck in a display with other stuff, like his hand-me-downs wouldn't get a bit more respect than say, a French drummer's socks from the American Revolution did.

2:50 PM - at this point I was thinking - is that it? What a crappy place. Like their history of warfare ended in 1900, which obviously isn't true. Where's the rest of it?

Well, was actually heading for the main exit, when I spotted a tiny little sign that said something about World War I and II Museum - and then I got very interested again. And I wasn't disappointed - in fact, it was by far the best museum I've ever been to in my life, and I've been to the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the Prado in Madrid, etc. but this was simply the best - ever. If you go to Paris, see Napoleon's Tomb and head right to the World War museum, unless you have an extra hour (and brain cells) to kill.

They first start with World War I, and you are on the second floor of the building as you start. For the next hour I was mesmerized with the stuff they had, telling a complete chronological story from the start of World War I, all the way to victory over Japan - with a truly explosive ending.

I admit, World War I wasn't really of much interest to me, as it focused mostly on France, and I honestly have no idea who any of the people were that they were talking about. It seems to me that Britain, Canada and the US, with a few others thrown in as support, actually won the war for the Allies, as they did in World War II. However, many of the battles were in France, so I suppose they had a legitimate right to brag about their war efforts in this museum. The coolest thing, I think, was the German Kaiser's (almost like their King at the time) helmet on display (see picture left, click for larger), made out of solid silver. I hate to say it, but whether you are talking about Hitler or Darth Vader, the bad guys always have the best outfits for some reason.

I skipped the rest of World War I - I knew how it turned out anyway - though had it turned out better for the Germans, we wouldn't have had World War II (not that victims are given permission to turn into criminals).

2:57 PM - Started at the World War II museum (which kind of continued right after World War I, but you had to first go up a set of stairs one floor). My head started spinning with all the amazing stuff on display right off the bat - for the next hour I actually used up a set of batteries with all the camera flashes I had (but had spares).

At the very start of the museum, they were talking about the rise of Hitler - and they "started off with a bang" (remember that phrase, I'll use it later again!) and showed off one of his uniforms the minute you walk in (see picture left, click for larger). Now that's an intro. I was hooked. First impression - this guy was really short. Like Napoleon short. Guess if you're small, you need to carry a big stick to get noticed.

They had a bunch of stuff from Hitler's house - diplomas from his walls, dishes from his kitchen, medals from his bedroom, etc. and that was all cool, but I can't show it all here for brevity - I'll show pictures when I see you! However, I was excited to see a real Enigma machine (see picture right, click for larger).

Germany used these amazing machines to create top secret codes that the Allies could not crack - and they got very cocky and broadcast all their operations on it eventually, believing it was impossible to crack. Sorry folks, the movie U-571 with Mathew McConaughey, about Americans capturing a German sub and getting an Enigma, was fiction. To Hollywood's credit, however, it was based on the true story of the HMS Bulldog, a British boat. And this was the Enigma machine they captured.

This museum had it's share of guns and uniforms too, from every country - Allies and Axis, which was pretty interesting for me. In the case of the Germans, they showed every type of uniform, from the Afrikakorp khaki shorts used in the desert to the parkas of Stalingrad - all disturbingly collected from dead soldiers.

They had a big display on D-Day of course, as it affected France directly - everything from jeeps to bombs to saboteur's trick weapons (like grenades inside dead rats, etc.). Very interesting stuff. They then showed some treasures they gained after Germany collapsed, like the personal military flag of Hermann Goering (head of the German Luftwaffe airforce) - captured in the liberated Paris in 1944. They sure had a flare for the dramatic.

Lots of stuff on display re: the Battle of Paris and it's liberation on August 25, 1944. To this day, Parisians celebrate that date as a local stat holiday. But of course, the war wasn't over even when Hitler committed suicide the next May, and the Germans surrendered days later. Japan was still a huge threat. Until a guy named Einstein started talking about nuclear fission, and everything changed.

The biggest surprise of all, to end the museum's tour with an even bigger bang that it's beginning - was an authentic, unfinished atomic bomb, from the facility as the ones developed and used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (see picture right, click for larger). They were prepared to finish more for Tokyo and/or other Japanese cities if needed, and this was one of those unfinished casings. This may sound terrible, but honestly, how many guys would not want to say they got to touch a (potential) atomic bomb with their bare hands. I'd say it was a history addict's come true, but I am not brave enough to even wish for something like that.

3:55 PM - I left the museum and the Les Invalides altogether, and was kind of floating down the street, still not believing what I saw. About a block ahead, I saw something beautiful - a bridge called Pont Alexandre III, which had four huge statues on the four corners of the bridge, in gold (see example left, click for larger)! And there were all kinds of ornate statues adorning the bridge itself. Talk about dramatic - this city really knows how to put on a show with it's buildings and sculptures, and the storm clouds gathering at 4:00 PM made it look even more amazing! And this was just found on a bridge no less!

Grande finale for the afternoon - as I was leaving the bridge, I encountered something I've not seen before - 8 police vans going by me with sirens and lights blaring and blazing - full of heavily-armed gendarmes nationale (French for national police, like the RCMP in Canada). Not sure where they were going, but they were in a hurry to get there. At first I thought the President was with them or something, but they were not escorting anyone around - yet. I couldn't believe how many sets of police lights were in a row. It was kind of beautiful in a way, and a bit unnerving. (see video below, click for larger). It's only a few seconds long, so you may need to play a few times to see how many there were:

The weather starting to get really ugly, and I was tired, so I decided just to head back to the hotel and relax for the evening. I grabbed some new snacks from the food store in the mall (didn't even feel like going out for supper - I think the combined efforts of the Congress and wandering the streets for days is doing me in!).

Stayed back at the hotel to get my blog updated and watch some TV. I then spent about an hour in the early evening going over what I still wanted to see in Paris, and planned out the order and all the stations, etc. I'd need. Then I hit the sack by 10 PM - I have a huge day of touring on Friday all planned out. Good night!

Day 7b - The Tomb of An Emperor

For the events of Thursday, September 3, 2009

11:45 AM - Decided to wait for awhile as it was raining out pretty heavy this morning. Worked on my blog until about 11:30, and then made my way to the RER C Train, to the Invalides station. Because of the big focus on the start of World War II this week in France, I looked up the website for Musée de l'Armée in Paris, the national War Museum, and decided to give it a try once I saw what was actually there. You'll see soon why.

12:30 PM - It was a grey day, with a bit of sprinkling rain, when I exited the Invalides station - which seemed to be nicer and cleaner than some of the others I've seen (the Metro lines are absolutely horrible). It's several blocks walking down the street from the station, with nothing between the station and my destination but a huge park. Off to the right, I could easily see the Eiffel Tower in the gloom.

Two blocks down the street, I looked to my left and....there was a Canadian flag flying from the front of a building (see picture right, click for larger). Something called the "Canadian Cultural Centre". I was so excited I went in to see what it was - I knew it wasn't an Embassy, but thought maybe it was a place where Canadians can meet each other when they are in Paris. Young guy at the desk was happy to see a fellow Canadian (he was from Ottawa). Found out it's an outreach of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, to promote Canadian culture in France! Everything from visual and performing arts, writing and screen arts, academics, etc. Kind of cool - thanked the guy on duty and continued on.

12:41 PM - I walked for a few blocks to the entrance to the Musée de l'Armée, housed in the a series of originally named Hôpital Les Invalides (see picture right, click for larger) - or in English, Hospital for Disabled Persons. Today, it's just called Les Invalides. It was commissioned by Louis IV (the Sun King of Versailles).

Can you imagine being admitted to a hospital where they call you a cripple on purpose? That's encouraging. Have to admit, if I was sick and they admitted me to this place, however, I would take that as a compliment - the gold-plated gates are a bit of a nice touch! That Louis IV sure knew how to whip up a nice building.

As I got inside, however, I had to laugh at the irony - this was probably the least handicapped accessible place I've been to in Paris so far. It was originally a hospital and retirement home for French war veterans many years ago too. What a great idea, I'm sure they thought - let's encourage our war wounded by calling them cripples, and then making sure that they can't ever get walk out of here again.

Les Invalides (see picture left, click for larger) houses the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, and the largest military museum in the world: the Musée des Plans-Reliefs (Museum of Architectural Models); and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine (Museum of Contemporary History) - which has recently been replaced in 2008 by a museum dedicated to President Charles de Gaulle, and dedicated by the current one, Nicolas Sarkozy. The old lady that took this picture was nice, but a bit 'les invalides' herself with a shaky hand - took a few tries to get one that wasn't moving (when I was standing perfectly still).

After the original building was finished, the King decided they needed a church - so they also built Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides, or Church of St. Louis of the Cripples in English (I know, weak translation). Today, this beautiful gold-topped church (see picture right, click for larger) is the burial site of the greatest war heroes of France. Notice, the King called himself a saint, and forced all patients to attend daily mass (even if they were Protestant).

The outside of the building was incredibly huge, but in need of repair, and the inner court was stunning when you first saw it (see picture left, click for larger), but half of one side was under tarps and scaffolding, which wasn't that attractive. Right in front of you when you walk in was the entrance to the church, with a big clock that had a deafening bong every 1/2 hour. It was really neat at first, and got some video to capture soon. After about 3 hours, however, I was ready to tear it off the wall - you could hear it everywhere. I don't know how patients were able to sleep through the night. And the courtyard was reaaaally empty - I thought they should throw some patio furniture around or something. Maybe a firepit in one corner, little palm trees....no?

1:02 PM - after going all the way through the building to the far end, where the ticket booth was (not that well planned) out, and paying 8€ for a pass that took me everywhere on the grounds (which I thought was reasonable), I headed off to my first stop, the Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides. Outside is pretty dramatic - but wait until you see inside!

Along the way, they had a photo exhibit outside in the walkways, with some never-before-seen photos (so they said, but I'm sure I've seen some of them before) showing the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1 and the aftermath, on its 70th anniversary. I was impressed with a museum that had a theme and a calendar - that's not as common as you might think.

In this photo (see picture right, click for larger), Germans in the city of Gdansk, Poland came out to cheer on their 'liberating' German army as it drove through the city September 3, 1939 (70 years ago today). As mentioned this morning, today is the day France declared war on Germany on the date of that photo. Those guys sure knew how to stage an event - they invaded two days before the place was just plastered with swastikas already!

1:10 PM - walked into the church, and was stunned by how beautiful it was. I seemed to have about 3 or four little mini chapels on the four corners of the main open space, each that you had to walk up several steps to see - and each had a tomb the middle of it. One of them said "Napoleon Joseph" (see picture left, click for larger) and I thought, "holy cow, it's Napoleon's tomb". So I was taking photo after photo after photo from every angle. I was pretty impressed that I got to see it.

Except I didn't - a guy beside me said this was the son of the Emperor Napoleon. What a let down - who cares about that? Pretty fancy for second rate though! But I have to admit, I was really disappointed. I thought for sure they said the Napoleon was buried here.

I went to each of the four tombs, and this one by far was the most dramatic and beautiful - eight soldiers carrying the body of General Ferdinand Foch (see picture right, click for larger), who is actually inside the coffin on their shoulders! Foch was Supreme Commander of the Allied troops in World War I against the Germans (like Eisenhower was in World War II) and personally accepted the German surrender on November 11, 1918 (of course, our Remembrance Day today celebrates that event). He was considered until 1939 the greatest war hero France ever produced, and after his death, statues of him went up in Poland, England and several other Allied countries, and streets today are named after him as far away as Ecuador and Louisiana. It's widely believed that were it not for military genius, the Allies would certainly have lost World War I.

I was suitably impressed with the place - the French certainly have an air for the dramatic. It had a beautiful painted ceiling (see picture left, click for larger) and a huge altar inside (see picture left, click for larger), which is original from the days of Louis IV, who would sometimes attend service here (see picture right, click for larger). But I was about to learn the coolest thing, for a history freak like me, was still to come. In the middle of the room, which I hadn't really gone all the way down to see, there was a big hole in the floor, and I saw people looking down there. Finally my curiosity got to me (you couldn't see what was down there from anywhere else - you had to look over the edge yourself).

The tomb of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (see picture left, click for larger)- the real thing! He's rotting away in there as we speak - how cool. I was like a little kid - it was much more dramatic than anything I've ever seen equivalent before - whether the eternal flame at President John F Kennedy's grave or President Taft's grave, both at Arlington National Cemetery. I cringed when I saw kids playing on Paul Revere's grave in Boston. I mean, kings don't always get this kind of special treatment - but then, he set himself up as a divine ruler. The French loved and even worshipped him, and still do to this day.

2:00 PM - Well that was neat, and I headed out to see more. However, when I got around to the front entrance of the church (in the courtyard) - it dawned on me that I hadn't seen people go out a back door, maybe there was more to this church to see.

And indeed there was (see picture right, click for larger). Not a huge place by any means, but a very nice the actual chapel that the patients would go to. The other was specifically designed to house Napoleon's grave after he died, and the other tombs were added after the fact.

Stay tuned, the best is yet to come today (I think).

Day 7a - Remembering The Start of War

For the events of Thursday, September 3, 2009

2:49 AM - just woke up on my own, I couldn't believe it when I saw the time. I wasn't even remotely tired, and only 5 hours sleep. Sigh. I figure I'd get up and work on my blog for awhile, and then head back to sleep when I got tired. I'm going to just let my body do what it wants without an alarm for the rest of the week. I've got no schedule until Saturday morning, but more on that then.

Just heard that major storms are coming to the UK this morning - Glasgow is expected to get 50 cm of rain, which they expect to cause some widespread flooding. Not sure they have explained on CNN International why, however. Last night's rain seems to have slightly changed Paris' weather as well - it will only be about 19c today, but seems to be raining until at least Friday now which sucks. Oh well, I am going to do indoor stuff the next two days anyway if I can help it, but I hope it's nice when I go out to Normandy (the D-Day beaches) on Saturday.

Speaking of Normandy, 11 AM this morning will mark the 70th Anniversary of the British and French declaration of war against Hitler, which formally started World War II - two days after the Germans invaded Poland. It's the biggest story of the day in Paris and London (see front cover from today's Independent paper from the UK).

3:36 AM - watching on BBC World News a special report on the new deals available in Las Vegas right now for hotels, etc. which are extraordinary. They say you will never get hotels and meals as cheap as you can right now - looks like my friend Chris and I went right at the right time, because we caught the beginning of that. They are hurting so bad, now they are offering free casino credits to play the slots, etc. to everyone with their hotel package, not just for high rollers. Apparently there are 17,000 new hotel rooms currently under construction during this economic crisis - so book your package now!

BBC also said they are now restricting the number of people who can go into a Pyramids of Egypt in one day, because the breath of millions of people is causing fungus to grow inside the tombs! They will also add new ventilation. Bet the Pharaohs never saw that coming.

Today is the first day of school for Parisian kids, so I'm assuming the streets will be really nutty today. London schools started yesterday, I believe. They do not have Labour Day in the UK or France on Monday, so seems odd to start mid-week - why not next Monday instead, or this past Monday? Only the US, Canada and the Bermuda (strangely enough) take this Monday off.

7:02 AM - decided to shower and hit the breakfast buffet before it gets too busy. Our Congress delegates will probably mostly be gone now, so hopefully will be quieter there. More later.