In Paris on Monday it was 15C and the sun was out. We walked from near the Palais Garnier to the base of the Eiffel Tower. May I digress and tell you that sentence has the names of two architects with structures named after them. This is not as usual as you might think. He who pays the piper etc.
It was my friend’s first time in Paris and we saw plenty of the city, crossing Place Vendôme, Jardin des Tuileries, Place and Pont de la Concorde, and along the Quai d’Orsay, past the Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs. Good old Google maps helped to identify everything. Of course I did not let him go up the tower – we walked on to Hôtel des Invalides to visit the army museum and Napoleon’s tomb. It was built by Louis XIV at the same period Wren was building the Royal Hospital for Charles II and for the same purpose, although on a much larger scale. (The Wren Chapel; another rare example of a building being named for the architect.) By the beginning of the 20th century not enough veterans qualified to live there and the remaining ones were dispersed. Today it houses three museums.
However, it seems about a hundred now reside though none were in evidence on Monday.
I noticed this stone in the Jardin des Tuileries and on Tuesday saw a depiction of the event.
As a member of The Church Monuments Society there were a good crop marking the tombs of Napoleon’s marshals. Turenne’s is the best.
“Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 1611 – 27 July 1675), commonly known as Turenne, was a French general and one of only six marshals to have been promoted Marshal General of France. The most illustrious member of the La Tour d’Auvergne family, his military exploits over his five-decade career earned him a reputation as one of the greatest military commanders in history.” Wikipedia
And so to lunch at La Mediterranée on Place de l’Odeon: , poêlée de champignons, oeuf parfait and lard paysan followed by bouillabaisse and îles flotanttes (encore). This restaurant is a newish favourite for me.
Good choice on the restaurant, an old favourite of ours, enhanced a number of years back by it being the choice of Charlotte Rampling when she was featured in ‘Lunch with the FT’.