Hotel des Invalides

On Saturday we visited Les Invalides, originally created by Louis VIX as a hospital for wounded soldiers in 1670. Today, Les Invalides contains a veteran hospital, a French military museum and also houses tombs of many French heroes. We spent the day looking through the medieval weapons and armor exhibits and the WWI and WWII exhibits.

Front of Les Invalides - Yes, I'm standing in the middle of the street to take this pic (on an island of course) as traffic is whizzing by!

Pehr telling Ryne that his Mommy is crazy for standing in the middle of the street!

Chapel dome of Les Invalides

Pehr and Ryne with a cannon in front of Les Invalides

Me and Ryne in front of the chapel

One of the most notable tombs at Les Invalides is that of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose tomb resides in a crypt under the grand dome in the chapel. Originally buried in St. Helena in 1821, his body returned to France in 1840. Surrounded by statues representing all of his victories, Napoleon’s remains are locked in six nesting coffins inside the tomb at Les Invalides.

Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte


Statues of victory surrounding the tomb

Impressive dome

After visiting Les Invalides, we stopped by a little park which had some nice flowers blooming and a statue that I thought was pretty. There were also some nice views of the Eiffel Tower in the background. These pictures were taken right before it started pouring rain! It was a cold and rainy weekend, although the sun did peak out from time to time. Pehr and I decided that just as the Union workers in Europe like to go on strike during busy holidays, the Sun Gods in Paris like to go on strike on the weekend!

Statue in the park with tulips

View of Eiffel Tower from the park