Easy Street

Today we are taking it easy--remember? We decided to do the Rue Cler Walk. "Rue" means street or something, and I can't find out what Cler means. Anyway, This street is only about 200 yards long (or at least the part we're interested in). It is meant to provide a view of normal, everyday life in Paris. The street is lined with little shops on both sides that sell everything you could need. If you lived there, you never need to leave! Bread shops, Chocolate shops, kitchenware, Meat, fish, pastries, groceries, flowers, furniture, and on and on and on. And yes, years ago they even sold horsemeat at the little shop with the nice little awning now selling crepes (chevaline). The original sign is still there. The street is very
narrow and although deliveries are allowed, there isn't a steady stream of vehicles--so the pedestrians are on the street. It is very much an outdoor area with markets open to the street and some even extend with stands out in the street. There is a sense of hustle and bustle as everyone goes about their everyday life. Our book, of course, told us where to eat and so we did. It was a very interesting walk--and a short one!


We decided to also visit the Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte in Les Invalides since it was close by. The church/museum where he is buried (I guess technically he isn't buried), is huge! It has a huge golden dome on the outside and the inside is quite extraordinary as well. Les Invalides was built by Louis XIV also (remember him from Versailles?). You can still see his initials everywhere carved in marble. Of course now Napoleon is the center of attention, but his brother and his son are interred there as well in their own little wings of the church. Behind the church was a War museum as well, showing the uniforms, weapons, pictures, and other memorabilia from WWI and WWII. It was a nice exhibit and I took lots of pictures for the boys!


Maridee's take on the tomb: Because we all know that Napolean was short and suffered from short man syndrome, he is actually interred in 7 caskets before we see the main one. If we were to take off the lid on the outside red, porphyry tomb, we would find another oak coffin. Then inside of that we would find an ebony coffin, then two lead coffins, then a mahogany and finally a tinplate coffin. All this just to make Napoleon look taller and of greater stature! Kind of like those Russian stacking dolls! Sorry I guess that is a little disrespectful.:(

The nice, easy walk turned into about 6-7 miles! We couldn't find the way into Les Invalides (1 mile square block) so we walked all around this huge square before we found it. So much for easy today.
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