les Invalides

First things first: a great big Parisian welcome to Ma and Pa Hellman, who are visiting us here in the City of Lights for about 10 days. It's of course wonderful to see them, and in addition I get to be a tourist again as I help escourt them around the city looking at insanely grandiose monuments and museums.

Our destination today included the following landmark. Do you know what it is? A pipe organ? An impressive chest-of-drawers? A deluxe, wooden skateboarding half-pipe?



None of the above. If you said, "Napoleon's Tomb", you'd be correct! It's housed under the dome of Hotel des Invalides, a magnificent building initially constructed under Louis XIV as a type of retirement home, I suppose, for veterans of French wars. Today, les Invalides houses not only Napoleon's tomb but also a very impressive Museum of War which is surprisingly very cool.
French of the Day: the word for "curfew" is "couvre feu", which is literally translated as "cover-fire." Perhaps because you were required to cover up your fire when the curfew hour had arrived?