Our first full day started by purchasing a subway pass for three days – the one week pass runs Monday thru Sunday, so that wouldn’t do. It took a few minutes to work it all out – the cashier didn’t speak English. The subways are all numbered, and you pick direction by the end of the line you wish to travel towards. Tranfers require walking. On older subway cars, you must lift a handle to open them. Here is a subway map. The hotel is less than one block from the Vavin stop.

3-day Subway Pass

We went to the Musée d’Orsay – we almost didn’t get in because of power problems (we stopped at a local cafe for a couple of Coke Lites and a pastry, at the suggestion of a museum employee). We used a 3-day museum pass to get in – that worked well as we didn’t have to wait in any lines. You can purchase the pass here.

3 Day Museum Card Front

3 Day Museum Card Back

We had lunch at the museum; the waiter took our picture.

Aviva and Bob having lunch at the Musée d'Orsay

The museum was originally a train station – they still have the old clock on the wall. There is a great sculpture of Napoleon and a very strange sculpture of tropical animals. They have a whole room of Redon’s work (some of it stunning), but no books on Redon in the bookstore.

Musée d'Orsay Clock

Musée d'Orsay Napoleon Sculpture

Musée d'Orsay Sculpture

We did the Hotel de Invalides and saw Napoleon I’s tomb and parts of the Musée de l’Armée, which is located in the rear of the Hotel de Invalides, which is where veteran solders went to live in the days of Napoleon if they couldn’t find another place – even today, veterans that need special care live in one wing.

Musée de l'Armée Ticket

Our first stop was at L’Eglise du Döme, the Dome church.

“The work to erect the Eglise du Döme began in 1677 under the supervision of the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Its openwork skylight rises 107 meters above the ground. In 1989, the Dome and its decorative elements, in particular its trophies, were regilded. Twelve kilograms of gold were necessary for this operation. Inside, the large painted fresco under the cupola is by Charles de la Fosse and was recently restored. Like the Soldiers church, the Dome church, which has become a military necropolis, houses, around the Emperor’s tomb, the tombs of Turenne, Vauban, Foch, Lyautey, Joseph and Jéröme Bonaparte.” (quoted from the military museum pamphlet)

The second major thing to see is Napoleon I’s tomb.

“In 1840, it was decided that the remains of Emperor Napoleon would be transferred and his national funeral took place on December 15th of the same year. The sculptor Visconti was commissioned to build the tomb which was completed in 1861 and the Emperor’s remains were placed in it. The tomb, made of red porphyry, placed on a base in green granite from Les Vosges, is surrounded by a wreath of laurel and inscriptions recalling the major victories of the Empire. In the circular gallery, a series of low-reliefs sculpted by Simart represent the principal actions of his reign. At the center, above the slab under which the King of Rome (Napoleon’s son) rests, stands a statue of the Emperor, bearing the imperial emblems.” (quoted from the military museum pamphlet)

Napoleon I's Tomb

Vauban's Tomb

Vauban’s tomb is large and traditional. Marshall Foch’s tomb, however, is haunting – it shows him dead on a bearer carried overhead by eight French World War I solders. Its lifesize and very impressive (and dark).

Marshal Foch's Tomb

We stopped at 2 churchs; one, St. Germain Des Pres, dates from 550 AD,  the other, St. Sulpice, had three Delacroix frescoes in the first chapel. Construction began in 1646 in the shadow of St. Germain des Prés. It was built on top of an older building, whose remants are visible in the crypt. Below is a schema of the various constructions undertaken at St. Sulpice.

Overlay of the various periods of construction of St. Sulpice

We came, we saw, we shopped. We ate dinner at Brasserie Lipp and didn’t return to our room til almost 9pm, bone cold and tired.

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