Amelia's Outrageous Adventures: Paris, Day 2

Tuesday morning we got up early (again) because I had pre-booked our entry to the Eiffel Tower. We managed to skip most of the line, but ended up behind a busload of Australian tourists. I must say, I love Aussie accents! Australians sound like they're pronouncing everything with twice as many vowels. It's very poetic.

Josephine's breaking the rules again!

Look how tall she is!

Pointing in the general direction of Ohio

The Eiffel tower never ceases to amaze me. It seems so little in all the photos, but it seems huge when you're standing under it, or standing on top of it. It's really quite scary. I'm not usually bothered by heights. I have what I call a "rational fear of heights" as opposed to the irrational fear that many people have. So I could be at the top of the Burj Khalifa, and I wouldn't be bothered by it as long as I had a solid floor under my feet and a solid-looking railing between me and the very long fall, but the Eiffel Tower scares me a lot because it was built in 1889, and it wasn't even intended to be permanent. It was supposed to stand for a couple of years and then be torn down. So I sometimes get a bit panicky on the elevator.

After the Eiffel Tower, we took a short trip through Les Invalides to see the Tomb of Napoleon. This is one of those things that I don't think is really worth paying for, but again, we had the museum pass, so it was free.

We walked from Napoleon's tomb to the Musee d'Orsay, and we passed the Musee Rodin. It's one of the few museums I meant to see during my three months in Paris, but I never got around to it. The inside was closed for renovation, but the garden was still pretty cool. I got really excited because I recognized the Burghers of Calais from seeing it before in the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C. I always feel very cultured when I recognize a piece of artwork or sculpture.

I finally looked up the story behind the statue, and according to Wikipedia:

"The story goes that England's Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.

Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out almost naked, wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers soon followed suit, stripping down to their breeches. Saint Pierre led this envoy of emaciated volunteers to the city gates. It was this moment, and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice, and willingness to face imminent death that Rodin captured in his sculpture, scaled somewhat larger than life.

In history, though the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband to exercise mercy by claiming that their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child."

The Burghers of Calais

Renovation of The Thinker

We strolled over to the Musee d'Orsay, where Josephine got a photo with the elephant statue. Josephine really likes elephants.

The Musee d'Orsay used to be a train station, and this is the clock

After the Musee d'Orsay we walked across a pedestrian bridge to the Jardin des Tuileries. The bridge was covered in locks with love messages written on them. I guess locking your lock to the bridge is supposed to ensure the permanence of your love. I think it's very romantic.

Sunning in the Jardin des Tuileries

Then we did some Parisian shopping at Galeries Lafayette. I've never bought anything there, as it seems to be very pricey, but Josephine got another charm for her Pandora bracelet.