Friday, May 14, 2010

The biggest head, great weapons, and a concert

Yesterday I went to the Invalides, to see Napoleon's tomb and the Musee de Armee.
I must say that I was blown away by Napolaon's tomb; I know that he is France's greatest general, possibly the greatest Frecnh military leader since Charlemagne who has not been preceded, or followed, by any great military leaders, but a tomb like that for one guy... It seemed a bit ridiculous, as if all of France's national pride has been invested in this one monument. His grave is...huge. It's just obscenely huge and ornate and, I have to imagine, wildly expensive. It was a beautiful building and very impressive, but the thought that this is a bit much for just one guy just hung out in the back of my mind the whole time.
The connected Musee de Armee, however, was amazing. Remember when I said that Buenos Aires had the greatest arms museum ever? Well, I take it back. This museum was amazing, with the armor and weapons of actual nobles, great and exhaustive exhibits of warfare in every time period, especially Medieval Europe, Renaissance Europe, Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and the most amazing WW1 and WW2 exhibits ever. Some of the weaponry on display was amazingly cool, like a combination boar spear/ wheelock pistol. They also had a great exhibit on the Hundred Years War, especially on John Froissart's chronicles of the war (part of which I read for a Covington paper) which was so extensive I spent hours reading, not leaving enough time for the rest of the museum. Maybe I'll go back.
On the way back I saw a poster for a string ensemble concert that would be playing Mozart, Pachelbel, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The concert was awesome, of course, but what was maybe more awesome was that when I went to buy the ticket at the Eglise St Germain du Pres, located in Sartre and Beauvoir Square, there was a marching band on the corner playing the Looney Tunes theme!
Speaking of street corners, they have something amazing here in Paris.
No, not that! On many of the street corners in the city there are hundreds of these small buildings, really just a free standing room. These little edifices are free public toilets! Everywhere! But it gets better. After each person finishes, the door closes and the toilet is cleaned, and not just the seat; the door closes and the entire room is sprayed and cleaned between each use! A sensor in the floor detects the weight of a person so it knows when not to run the clean cycle. How cool! It totally beats the self-cleaning toilet seat in Zurich, though the first place for nicest public bathroom ever goes to Bryant Park. Seriously, if you have not been to the bathroom in Bryant Park you are missing out.
All is good for Shavuos, I am sufficiently set up, though it took most of the day by the computer to get that done. Thanks to all who helped! I'll be in Paris for another few days and then it's off to London!
Have a great shabbos!

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