4. Of art, war and the world's fairs. Invalides, Musee Rodin, Tour Eiffel.

I decided to embark on this tour with a nice small group and when the weather was perfect. Because this is one of the longest tours I was dreading it but it went by really fast. We started out at the Grand Palais which was built for a world fair in 1897 and finished in 1900. The building was designed with neoclassical elements and some nouveau style. I am typically not a fan of vouveau but I did appreciate this building so I guess it is growing on me.

Some of my favorite parts of this building were how open it was. Obviously it has a glass roof which really helps building standout and, catch your eye from any spot in Paris. For me though the glass building was such a nice change from the usual ornate, dramatic, and dark look that is commonly seen in Paris. Even though the building was really dramatic it still felt lighter and more natural.

The next memorable stop was the bridge. This bridge is obviously one of the most orante bridges on the seine. It symbolizes peace between France and Russia. It was really great to live the bright and sunny Grand Palais and then continue on a nice stroll on the bridge. The thing that stuck out most to me was the fact that there was hardly any traffic on the bridge. There wasn't really any in the whole area and that is not very common. But it was a nice change.

After the bridge we headed to the Musee Rodin. This museum was truly unique. All of the sculptures inside were not typical. They were posed in intresting ways that you wouldn't expect. Some were holding up their legs to their heads and some were laying down with their arms thrown into the air. It was really interesting to see all the different elaborate poses but not my favorite museum. The main piece int he museum is obviously the thinker and it was really cool to see a memorable piece.

Then we headed to the Hotel des Invalides. The gold on the Invalides was beaming like the sun, it was so bright and pretty. The first thing that caught our eye was this lovely sign.

Once we saw this we knew all the patients there were in good hands. We went inside and walked around and of course payed our respects to the great and always mentioned Napolian. It was nice to see his grave, and it a true landmark in Paris. We then walked the grounds and saw a lot of veterans still in wheelchairs getting some fresh air. We then wanted to jump down into the moat but saw the it was to high. SO we headed to the next stop the Eiffel tower.

See the moat?

Having see the Eiffel tower so many times was not something that I thought I would really enjoy. BUt when I read in the book that the Eiffel tower was once painted Yellow I couldn't stop picturing it and laughing about it. I am really happy that they never tore it down. It looks very industrial because of the iron but because its been around for so long it has a classic 1950s feel that will never be taken away from this great monument.

We then headed to Champ-de-mars. We have seen this building before but what makes this different from other great Parisian buildings is how it is still functioning. We only looked on from the outside but there were officials hustling and bustling all about which was cool to see since some of them had funny uniforms.

The highlight of this walk was crossing the bridge to and looking at the sun on the Invalides building. I loved the weather and the different architecture that this walk provides.