Death and destruction

The weather today consisted of many bouts of torrential downpours. With Tuesdays being the day museums are shut we headed to Les Invalides which was open.

Started with a visit to Napoleon’s tomb. Massive edifice with many Carrera marble depictions of the Emperor in various guises, including as King of Rome. But some beautiful artwork as well. See extra for some statues surrounding the tomb.

The main blip is of a monument to the fallen.

Then spent several hours looking round the exhibition on the 2 world wars and the events leading up to them. A theme of nationalism seeking power over others (as opposed to self determination) seemed to run through the lead up to the wars. Lessons to be learned there. But also the scale of the atrocities, death and destruction over so many years.

Learned some new facts. First that in a 40 day period 1.7 million prisoners were taken.

And that In the First World War during the initial German advance I was not aware of how close to Paris the advancing armies came. Only clever strategic decisions - and the requisitioning of over 600 Parisian taxis to transport some 6,000 troops to the front helped save the day. The front line was pushed back and settled into several years of dreadful trench warfare.

Sobering.

Then on to an exhibition on Picasso and war. I had not appreciated that Picasso had remained in Paris throughout the war despite his republican sympathies.

Finally, as the sun had returned we went to the Jardins du Luxembourg to enjoy the sights.