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Today a visit to the Musee de l'Armee. This was created in 1905 just after the World Fair. It extends over 8,000 sq m and consists of the museum and 2 churches. It is the largest museum of military history in France and has over 500,000 objects.
The museum is broken up into several areas. There is the largest collection of antique arms and armours from the Middle Ages to 1643. Ned Kelly eat you heart out. Then from Louis XIV to Napolean III from 1643 to 1871. There are uniforms, paintings and personal effects from various people. There is an area called Extra Ordinary Cabinets which has the largest collection of model soldiers I have ever seen.
We then visited the Charles de Gaulle Historial which is devoted to the political career of Charles De Gaulle. There are 400 audio and video documents and 20 hours of commentary in this area. Certainly not possible to hear them all.
From here to the WWI and WWII exhibition. The French start this from 1871 giving the escalations into WWI and the political tension leading up to WWII. This was really good.
Then to the Cathedral of Saint-Louis Des
Invalides. This has the common soldier's side of the church which is a beautiful building and then around the other side the Dome Church tomb of Napolean I in the Royal church. Once it was decided to move Napolean's remains, it took them 20 years to dig and prepare the area. The 2 churches are separated by a glass roof. Again an impressive church.
From here to the Museum of the Order of the Liberation which is dedicated to those who opposed the Germans during the war.
Within 15 minutes of being at the Museum this morning, I ran into the lady I haen talking to in the Louvre, then later a lady in the lift explained to me that the flags were at half mast because of the death of Simone Veil. A survivor of the Aschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, she was first president of the Fondation pour la Memorire de la Shoah looking at Jewish history and restoration. She is best known for pushing for legalised abortion in France in 1975. This lady was from Normandy and was telling us when she was little she wanted to swim in the sea but her brother told her she
couldn't because it was a cemetery.
From here to have a sit down and gather our thoughts. Then back to the hotel. I did manage to see the sign on the metro telling you 'Do not use the folding seats when the train is crowded'. It is still the bottom of a sign about the doors and alarms. The English bit is about 2.5cm squared so I am bemused as to how I could have missed this.
A stop at the local shop to buy a baguette (French stick) turned out to much more stressful than I could have imagined. The register was closed so the lady was yelling at me in French and waving her arms, then a man was yelling at me waving his arms around the register area. The cashier just looked bored. A young man helpfully explained that I needed to give the cashier €1.10 then go back to the first counter and pick up a baguette. Talking louder at someone doesn't make them understand any better.
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