Day 8: Napoleon, Armory, & Dinner

Day 8:

Sunday was our free day; we could choose whatever we wanted to do. So, Jill and I slept in until 10:30am because we really need to catch up on some sleep. We got up and ate a late breakfast of bread and cheese with the boys (Pat, Steven, and Dan) and then headed out to look at Napoleon's tomb, which was recommended to us. It is actually attached to an armory so we ended up looking at that first.

So we walked in and bought our tickets and Jill and I had to go to the bathroom so told the boys to wait for us. We came out afterwards and they were gone. They had left us behind, typical. So Jill and I set off through the armory and ended up in the World War II era, which was right up our alley. It was so interesting. I love learning about WWII and seeing actual uniforms, reading about little tidbits that involved France that I didn't know about, and recognizing people's names that are stops on the Metro too was very cool. However, what really gets me are the propaganda signs. I think the propaganda used during the wars is so fascinating and must have taken a picture of every single one.

Finally, the boys called us and we decided to meet up at Napoleon's tomb. Talk about a big head on such a little man. Yes, he was exiled twice, but who cares, the french brought him back and built a humongous tomb out of marble and gold around him. Not only that, but his casket was very large, at least 5X what I'd expect his body size to be. I'm telling you, that man must have been a bit to big for his britches. He was in the center, there was a shrine of gold at the top, his two brothers were buried in tombs around him, and there were three other famous people buried there too in tombs revolving around Napoleon's. It was beautiful. I highly doubt anyone else will be built in such an amazing style, but the man did endeavor to conquer all of Europe and did pretty well for himself too.

So we finished up and left the tomb heading towards an area I don't know that we took the metro too. GOLD MINE!!! Jill and I found the most amazing shops. There were chocolate shops, clothing shops, shoe shops, so many. We ended up shopping until the last minute with the boys standing outside the door for us. Got 2 dresses and 2 leather jackets. Success! Then we had to leave for our last dinner.

We got back to IBIS and rushed upstairs to change for dinner. Then everyone got on the metro and we went to the Champs-Elysee for a real Parisian dinner. It was called "Chez Clement" and was very tasty. I got the steak medley of all different kinds including flank steak and others got the fish or the pork. Jill got the pork, which was apparently hideously disgusting. I think it was pig's testicles or intestines or something like that. Really nasty. The bread and desert was fantastic though. As usual, I got some form of a chocolate cake and it was delicious! The Professor gave us superlatives and I got "Most likely to be unable to find the Eiffel Tower" because I was standing on it haha. It was great. Then we headed back to the hotel and Jill and I died in bed.