Le Grand Voyage — Day 10

Nate and Dieter

The four of us set out for our first destination- Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum). We started with a fascinating collection of swords, spears, armor, pole axes, maces, arrows, crossbows, shields, halbards, daggers, lances, muskets, pistols, cannons, épées, cutlasses, rapiers, sabers, scimitars, glaives, revolvers, rifles, and other assorted weaponry. My favorites were the armored face masks and a gun that fired three shots at once. Or maybe didn’t since it clearly never caught on.

The WWI and WWII displays looked fabulous, but to really appreciate them would have required more time than Nate was willing to spend. We popped over to the gift shop, where he picked up a dagger and shield to call his own.

Stomachs started to grumble, and we only had time for a quick stop to see Napoleon’s tomb.

It took awhile to find a good lunch stop, but the wait was worth it. At Café des Officers, we had a variety of risotto dishes and wine. We ate in the traditional Parisian way- facing out to watch the people strolling by at Place de l’Ecole Militaire.

After a relaxing lunch, we walked to the Musée Rodin to see sculpture by Auguste Rodin. The actual museum was closed for rennovation, but the action was in the gardens anyway. The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and other famous sculptures are scattered around a beautiful garden. I may or may not have taken a nap in a shady lawn chair.

Tired from the walking, we ate a small dinner of fresh cheese and bread back at the apartment- all purchased at a local open-air market a few blocks away. We concluded the evening with a walk around the Butte aux Cailles neighborhood- a bustling district near the apartment.