Les Invalides

Given that I live a stone's throw away from Les Invalides, it was a bit of a crime that I hadn't been there yet! A key reason for my negligence might be that the beautiful building houses an army museum - not very high on my list of places to spend a Saturday afternoon. However, given the amount of times that Napoleon Bonaparte, the Battle of Waterloo and Charles de Gaulle have come up in my French lessons, it was time to redress the balance. Tally-ho!

 

Vu que j'habite à deux pas des Invalides, c'était une crime que c'est la première fois que je suis allée cette année. La raison clé pour mon négligence était peut-être le fait que le bâtiment sert d'une musée de l'armée - pas le lieux le plus évident à passer un samedi après-midi. Cependant, le Générale Napoléon Bonaparte, la Bataille de Waterloo et Charles de Gaulle figurent si régulièrement dans mes cours de français, que c'était grand temps que je redresse la situation. Allons-y!

A portrait of Louis XIV, The Sun King.

The English love to talk about Napoleon's "short man syndrome", but I've been told often enough that the great man wasn't as little as we suppose. However, given that this was apparently one of his uniforms, I beg to differ - it's tiny! I think I would struggle to get into it, so for my dignity's sake I'm certainly not convinced that he was actually an average sized guy... This is his horse, stuffed for us to admire. Lovely..!

 

Les anglais adorent rigoler à propos du "complexe napoléon", mais on m'a dit pas mal de fois que l'homme n'était pas si petit que l'on suppose. Cependant, ceci était apparemment une de ses uniformes, je ne suis pas du même avis. C'était minuscule ! Je pense que j'aurais du mal à rentrer dans la veste. Je ne suis pas du tout convaincu qu'il était du taille moyenne ! Ceci est son cheval, empaillé pour que nous puissions l'admirer. Charmant...!

 

 

Napoleon's Tomb....

....looks like chocolate.

 

I've only showed you the sections on Napoleonic history, and I hope to go back to learn more about World War I and II. It's free for European students below the age of 26 with a piece of identity. When it's just around the corner and this beautiful, there's no excuse!

Je ne vous ai montré que les sections sur l'histoire Napoléonienne, et j'espère d'y retourner pour apprendre plus sur La Première et Deuxième Guerres Mondiales. C'est gratuit pour les étudiants Européens de moins de 26 ans, avec une pièce d'identité. Quand il se trouve à 5 minutes de chez moi et quand il est si beau, il n'y a pas d'excuse ! 

 À Bientôt !

x

Momento Mori

Last weekend, I went with some friends on a long-awaited trip, to the catacombs which are found miles below Paris's streets. Once dug out as stone quarries, the catacombs are now famous for a more macabre reason, and a quick glance at Google images will let you know exactly why.

 The quarries are hundreds of years old, but after the 1777 collapse of some of the mines, Police Lieutenant-General Alexandre Lenoir was firmly behind the idea of moving Paris' dead from existing ceremonies to the newly renovated subterranean passageways. This idea had been circulating since 1782, but the idea for a future ossuary became confirmed in late 1885.

Whereas at first the bones were laid pell-mell in the, Louis-Etienne Hericart de Thury who was the head of the Paris mine inspection service from 1810 had the vision to transform the underground caverns into a visitable mausoleum (Source). Hence, the catacombs feel like a strange mix between a science museum detailing the mining history and explaining the rock formations deep underground, a museum of Paris' history as you walk past sculptures and poetry by Lamartine carved into the rock, and of course a graveyard - a final resting place for 6 million people.

The journey begins as you travel deep underground (hundreds of steps and no way to exit once you are below, N.B. there are no toilets underground, and the experience is not suitable for people of limited mobility). After being informed on the construction of the quarries, and walking for at least 20 minutes, you suddenly come to this sign:

 

It is a cold and chilling place, made all the more so by the missing skulls, prised from the walls where they had been set into the shape of a cross or a heart. Poetry and quotes about the fleeting nature of life and the imminence of death are also sobering. Some tourists had forgotten that this is a resting place for the dead, and were cheerfully taking 'selfies' with the bones.

"And so everything on the earth goes by,

Spirit, beauty, graces, talent,

Such is a fleeting flower,

Bowed by the lightest wind"

 

 It is hard to know how to treat the catacombs, as a tourist attraction, a museum or a graveyard - despite the fact that they have been open to the public for centuries: the first known visitor of note was King Charles X in 1787. It is worth a visit if you are respectful, but now I've been I don't know if I would go again! Website here.

À Bientôt !

x

In the Limelight

I just made my French television debut on Canal +'s "Le Grand Journal'! For those that don't know, it is a chat-show focusing on current events with star guests, much like 'The One Show' in England. A friend invited me to be in the live audience, and by a stroke of luck, I was sat at the front & in shot through pretty much the whole of the first segment.

                                           

There I am!

Je viens de faire mon 'début' sur la télévision français, sur "Le Grand Journal" de Canal +! Une amie m'a invité d'être spectateur pendant l'émission en directe, et par hasard et avec un peu de chance, j'étais placée tout en avance pendant toute l'émission. On peut la voir ici, et elle a été diffusée lundi le 17 février.

Check out the episode here which aired on Monday 17th February. Special guests included Jared Leto of 'Thirty Seconds to Mars' fame, who has just won a Golden Globe and is an Oscar nominee in the role of 'Best Supporting Actor' for 'Dallas Buyers Club'; actress, comedian and model Isabella Rossellini; and world-record-breaking pole vaulter Renaud Levillenie !

Les invités étaient Jared Leto, connu par son groupe rock, "Thirty Seconds To Mars",  qui vient de gagner un "Golden Globe" et qui est nominé par un Oscar pour son nouveau film "Dallas Buyers Club"; l'actrice, femme comique et mannequin Isabella Rossellini; et le perchiste qui vient de battre le record mondiale, Renaud Levillenie !

Thank you for indulging me on this little adventure. I've talked it up quite a bit & made the most out of my 5 minutes of fame, & now all the trumpet-blowing is over, I can admit that I'm out of focus & in the background behind a much more important star. But, as Holly Golightly wisely said, "There are certain shades of limelight that can wreck a girl's complexion", and I think I agree that this is about as much time in the spotlight as I'll ever need!

Je sais que j'ai beaucoup dramatisé ce poste, et que dire que j'étais sur la télé est une grande exagération quand je suis derrière de quelques gens beaucoup plus importants que moi ! Cependant, merci pour m'avoir accordé ces petites 5 minutes de "célébrité" sur mon blog :)

Le Grand Journal du 17/02/14 http://www.canalplus.fr/c-le-grand-journal/pid5411-l-emission.html?vid=1022344&sc_cmpid=TWShare via @grdjournal

À Bientôt !

x