Napoleon's Tomb, Invalides, and Sciences Po Party

September 24th

Last night on my way to meet Ella, I had tried to withdraw money from an ATM.  The transaction hadn't gone through and the ATM had said that such a withdrawal was not authorized by my bank.  I was afraid that my bank had temporarily closed my account for security and I was correct in my hypothesis as I had a list of emails from my bank saying that my security had been breached and also from my mom saying that she had been on the phone with the bank all night trying to get through to someone who could open my account.  Thankfully, my mom had found the direct number and I also still had money on my skype account so I was able to fix everything with the bank in about an hour.  I wouldn't be wandering the streets of Paris broke and not knowing the language.

I walked back up to the Sacre Coure and toured the inside of the cathedral.  It was very nice, with the domes painted with heavenly scenes.  Since Napoleon's tomb had been closed when I had tried to visit, I decided to go back.  As I walked up the entrance of the Invalides, there was a ceremony being conducted.  It looked like the swearing in of a new class of recruits for the French military.  I made my way to the back of the building and bought my ticket.  Napoleon's tomb was underneath the gigantic dome that had once been a church built for Louis XIV.  It had been converted into a military hospital and now a mausoleum for the famous generals.  Inside, I looked at the tombs of the generals and then peered down at Napoleon's tomb.  The audio-guided tour was very informative and it explained the history of the tomb and how it had taken until 1840 for Napoleon's remains to be placed here in the Invalides.  Napoleon's tomb was supposed to be made out of porphyry (like the tombs of the ancient Roman emperors) but when the architect could not find a piece of porphyry big enough, he used a giant block of quartz that was the same dark red-purple color.

I went downstairs for a better look and saw that the tomb was surrounded by 12 statues of the goddess victory, commemorating Napoleon's 12 victorious campaigns.  On the opposite side of the wall, were marble scenes depicting Napoleon as Emperor and acting out parts of his life and accomplishments.

From Napoleon's tomb I went upstairs to the start of the WWI and WWII Museum.  It was one of the best war museums I've ever been to as it had thousands of great artifacts.  I liked reading about the two World Wars from the perspective of the French and learning more about the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation during World War II.

That night we went to the club in down town Paris that had been rented out by Sciences Po.  We took the last metro there at 12:30 and the first one back in the morning at 6:00.  We had a great time.