The Emperor Will Rise
Bonjour à tous! What a treat! Two Paris posts in one day! I'm really working hard for you guys so I hope you enjoy these posts! This past weekend I had many adventures through a pretty rainy Paris. On Saturday morning I went to Les Invalides which is where the famous Napolean is buried. It was a pretty incredible place if I may say so myself. The French really outdid themselves for Napolean, especially since they didn't really like him.
As you walk into this huge mansion-like piece of property you are automatically "welcomed" by a large statue of the man himself. His eyes follow you everywhere so be warned if you ever visit on your own. The place is honestly huge. It's hard to find where you are going sometimes but you can feel the history walking up the stairs and down the passageways. After you go through some corridors and such you'll find yourself coming out the back of the building where there is another entrance for the opposite end. This is where you will find the immensely large grave of Napolean and many of his close military men as well as his son, his nephew Napolean III and a memorial to World War I Veterans.
The entrance of the grave site is round and in the center of the ground is Napolean's grave shown on the lower level. Above the grave is the inside of the dome of the building with beautiful paintings. The actual grave of Napolean is in the lower level which I mentioned you can look at over a banister. It kind of looks like a very large hat if you ask me. All around his grave are angels that appear to be guarding him. It's haunting and beautiful all at the same time. On the inside walkway there are images sculpted into the walls that resemble Napolean in a Roman-esque sort of way with many different sayings and quotes in French.
While you're walking around you will come to the grave of Napolean's nephew Napolean III as well. If you aren't big on history, Napolean III was the one who took over the business of trying to conquer the world. He continued where his uncle left off and had probably less success. Anyway, it was cool to see the little homage that they paid to him as well since if I remember correctly, he was liked even less. Napolean's son was also buried in this giant mausoleum I guess you would call it but on the first floor with all the other lesser people. My favorite of all of it was the memorial for WWI Veterans.
