touristing it up

Yesterday was freakishly gorgeous. I even took my coat off. Skye and I walked from our house across the Seine to the Eiffel Tower (we didn't go up, it was incredibly crowded) and from there to Les Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is.

From the bridge looking at the Eiffel Tower:

From the Eiffel Tower side of the Seine, looking back at the bridge; where the bridge goes in between those two buildings is our metro stop, and our house is a few blocks back.

This installation, whatever it was, said "peace" in about six bajillion different languages, including Chinese that looked like it was written by a chicken.
Les Invalides:

Hilarious. It's a little model of Napoleon's coronation, but here I think he's crowning Josephine. For some reason, Les Invalides was really big on dolls.

Above the entrance to the lower level, where his tomb is, is this: "Je desire que mes cendres reposent sur les bords de la Seine, au milieu de ce peuple francais qui j'ai tant aime." (I want my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine, in the middle of this French people whom I have so loved.) (There are a couple of accents in there, but I'm lazy.) Awww, sweet. I don't, um, exactly know my French history, but I do know that there is a continuing Cult of Napoleon in modern Paris.

Napoleon liked his jewelry.There's his tomb! An awfully big tomb for a little man. You could fit about ten of me in there.

It was so pretty out, I just can't get over it. Of course this is our last gasp until winter returns, oh, tomorrow, for a nice long stay. Whatevs. The space under the Eiffel Tower was like Little America. Yankees caps everywhere.