| Tuesday, June 18, 2013 -- Paris, France -- Day 3, Part 1 |

Today, we slept in until 10:45! I guess yesterday's travels and wild weather swings wore us out. It is sunny and warm today.

First stop after breakfas was the the military museum (Musee d'Armee) at the Hotel de Invalides. Dylan has an keen interest in WW II history, and also likes the armor and weaponry of the Medieval and Rennaissance periods. And this place had a fantastic collection of armor and weaponry through the ages of French royalty to the Second World War.

Dylan especially liked Napolean's tomb -- all I can say is that Napolean is enshrined like an Egyptian pharoah. In a word, extravagent. Val was interested in seeing Napolean's preserved horse. The animal is stuffed, though taxidermy from the late 18th century for a large animal perhaps left a bit to be desired. My take is that the the horse (as stuffed) was a bit smallish like the emperor that rode it.

I found the evolution of technology in the weapons available to the French royalty and nobility interesting. In particular, there were a couple of examples of swords that also included a short gun barrel coming out of the handle on one side of the blade with a trigger on the grip. This would seem to take some of the honor and fairplay out of a sword fight...