I naturally woke up to study at 8:30, which has stopped surprising me much considering that I got to bed earlier than senior citizens. I lollied in bed until 9:15 when I thought I should hurry up and get studying before today's adventure. My plan was to see La Madeleine and Parc Monceau and then go home. It ended up being much more than that.
I studied, got dressed, and then took the eight from Ledru-Rollin to Madeleine station. La Madeleine is the most out of place church that I've seen in Paris. It looks like the Parthenon was transplanted in the middle of the city. Its imposing size is menacing before you even get to the front door. I did appreciate that both sides of the steps were covered in flowering plant, but like every monument with steps in Paris, it was covered with people having their lunch and teenagers who should be in school. The inside was dark and slightly creepy. I didn't feel the need to stay for long.
Next I was going to go to Parc Monceau, but I saw an obelisk at the end of the street in front of La Madeleine and had to go investigate. It turns out to be Place de la Concorde. I didn't really investigate further than that because it is impossible to cross the street in Paris; it is nearly impossible to go from one side of a circle to the other with Paris' "system" of crosswalks. I did walk on the outskirst of a park, which was very pretty, while also seeing a small yellow house with a bronze statue of a girl in front of it. The sunny afternoon made my walk seem even more idyll than it was.
I had only been gone from home for about half an hour and that an excursion does not make. I kept walking until I saw a bridge over the Seine. I took it, and then saw the Eiffel Tower nearby. I had actually never been on the other side of the Eiffel Tower (the end opposite of the Trocadero), and started to walk that way to investigate. All of those pictures of people lying on the grass with the Eiffel Tower in the background are a complete sham. Most of the grass, which is cross-cut by gravel pathways, was blocked off with construction barriers. However, there are parks on either side of the Champs de Mars which included a children's park with a balloon and ice cream vendor.
Behind Champs de Mars was a bizarre to promote Parisian bike tourism. It should be "how to die in Paris" tourism; I would never ride a bike in this city. At this point I was totally lost. I turned right and then began to walk straight until something with a golden spire and dome peaked my attention. Like most monuments in Paris, it seems closer than it is. I kept walking, past the Ministry of Work, and finally reached the golden spire. It was Les Invalides!
I've been reading about Les Invalides in my histories of Paris class. It was a military hospital mandated under the reign of Louis XIV for veterans. It was a new idea; before soldiers were discarded from the army at age 35 and left to beg and fight on the streets of Paris. I knew that if I walked for long enough that I'd find it eventually…and I did. It's a little ironic that a supposed hospital would have a glittering golden dome with a cross-topped spire…and a moat with gardens. It's now the army museum, which you know I wasn't interested in. I did walk through the perfectly manicured gardens until I reached another small garden with a statue in it.
From far away I could tell that the statue was of a headless body, and that it was holding something round in its hands. I just had to see it closer. In fact, the statue is of a planar body holding a garbled head where its hands should be. It's the oddly gruesome monument to those killed in the terrorist attacks on the Paris metro in the 1990s.
I did find the metro. I found the stop François-Xavier which happens to be in front of église Saint François-Xavier. Now this is a French church. Totally gothic on the inside and out. I loved the writing in Latin both inside and outside of the church, and it's amazing paintings. I had never seen a picture of a living Christ with outstretched arms over the altar before. It was a nice change from the dead or ressurrected Christ normally seen. I also really liked the huge domed ceiling in front of the altar with the classic gothic miniscule skylight; this one had all of the names of the saints print in gold in Latin lining the dome's base. You could tell that the stained glass was new, which I wasn't personally a fan of, but I liked the overall amount of light and joy in the building compared to most gothic churches.
So back to the metro. Yay for me; I had found the metro. Non for me; I didn't know what line this was. I didn't even know that there was a line twelve! I looked at the metro map and figured out that line twelve would connect with line one at champs-élysees and that I could take the one as usual back to Gare de Lyon.
I made it home, and have done little else besides stuff my face with everything in my cupboard and fridge (mostly the vanilla waffer cookies that I bought yesterday at Franprix). I did manage, however, to skype with my mom and finish studying for French. Time for mémée to go to bed.
**I do admit to stealing photographs from the internet for some of these sights. I can't always get great images, but I still want you to see the wonder of where I've been!
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