After Musée Rodin or when I was done eating. I checked what was close by and I went for the Musée de l’Armée. Quick tip, it’s confusing. Or it was to me as when I entered through the park on the Seine side of the museum. There were suddenly signs to this museum and that museum. So, I walked to the entrance on the other side where the ticket office was. I wanted to check if those were all different museums or if they were exhibits that belonged to one museum. I was told it was one ticket for everything. They might as well just tell you that. Of course, I didn’t check their website – so the info might be out there.
Anyway, what is there to see? Well, the buildings themselves are spectacular and there’s an outdoor exhibit that you don’t need a ticket for. You can basically walk around any outdoor area, park and all without a ticket. You will have to show your ticket at the entrance of all indoor exhibits. The same ticket several times.
Now you know.
So, I started right by the ticket office with the tomb of Napoleon. This is Napoleon the first. I keep getting my Napoleons confused. This is the one that was instrumental in how Switzerland is organized today. Also, the one that was in power during the Louisiana Purchase. Basically, the most famous of the three. There was his son as well – not very noteworthy (he was emperor for a few weeks) and then Napoleon the third (nephew of Napoleon I) who became France’s first president.
When I entered the area of Napoleon’s tomb, I couldn’t help but think “what a waste of space – he was only little”. Yes, I did feel bad about thinking that – for like a second. The two domes where really stunning though and yes, the entire building was impressive to say the least.
A lot of the museum is about French history – no surprise there. We did French history at school, especially since Napoleon had a great influence on Switzerland. Also, they are our neighbors, and we share a language. Of course, Swiss French is way cooler than the French version. We don’t do the quatre-vingt stuff - we just say huitante (also septante and nonante) and other things too. Ours is just more open-minded. I have very strong opinions on France’s attempts to keep their language “pure”, but let’s not go there. The Swiss are known for borrowing quite freely from other languages and especially between the four national languages.
I just realized that there is one museum that my booklet on the Musée de l’Armée does not talk about. It’s called Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération. It’s where I went next. It talks about the interior resistance. And that one left a mark. I mean just reading about all those individual actions. Kind of what is needed today or always really. Seemingly small acts by individuals having a great impact. Let’s do this!
Of course, this museum overlapped a bit with the Charles de Gaulle one, but the perspective was a different one. It’s probably also why the de Gaulle one didn’t feel as interesting (see below).
On I went to the next museum. That one was on the two world wars. This really was a museum of its own. What an extensive exhibition and so very well done. Dreadful topic of course, but wow. And I was walking through it thinking – how, just how did Switzerland manage to stay “neutral” and not get invaded? I later bought a book on fortifications, there’s something in there on Switzerland and WWII. I’ll have to read up on that. Also, I think we took everybody’s money or protected their money or something to do with money – I’m sure.
There’s a museum that was closed. They are doing some work on the building. It would have been on music and musical instruments, also artillery and historic figurines. Just wanted to mention that here. It’s a smaller exhibit.
Then came the history of Charles de Gaulle. At this point my brain was already tired. This is a very modern exhibit. I just didn’t have the capacity to take it all in. My brain was just not interested. It looked like a lovely exhibit though and I did walk all the way through it. It just didn’t get my full attention.
So, the next exhibit (museum) I went to was on the period from Louis XIV to Napoleon III. It was interesting and reminded me of some things I learned at school. It was another big one. There was an entire hall dedicated to the French Revolution. We talked about that extensively at school, both in our History and French classes.
It was here that you could go up to the fourth floor to the Musée des Plans-Reliefs. I actually followed a quick guided tour there. It was on relief maps. Fascinating stuff. There was also a bit about fortifications and how some of them were built along the old borders and that’s why they now seem to be in the middle of the country. It was very interesting. That one I can highly recommend, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.
Let’s see if I can list everything there is to see for you. The main leaflet tells you about (my translations - as my leaflet is in French):
Napoleon’s Tomb
Ancient arms and armors
Louis XIV – Napoleon III
The two world wars
Charles de Gaulle
Open air museum (courtyard) including Cathedral Saint-Louis (this is free)
Then there’s what feels like two stand alone museums as they have their own leaflets, and they are both called “Musée de(s) …”.
Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération
Musée des Plans-Reliefs
Come to think of it, it was probably those two that made me think I had to get more than one ticket. Anyway, you can find all the information you need here.
I was already on my way out and had decided to skip the “ancient arms and armors” when I passed the entrance and I just had to go check it out quickly. If you thought my feet were tired during my last trip, this was a new level of tired, I can tell you that.
I just about had time to go back to the hotel and have a quick rest before heading out to the Centre Pompidou. There was torrential rain when I got out of the metro. Luckily, I had memorized how to get to the closest exit to my hotel.
Centre Pompidou was an easy half a mile walk from my hotel and it was only drizzling now. There was just the one – very short - line, so it didn’t matter if you had a ticket or not. You can enter the building and go up the escalators without a ticket. I didn’t know that, but it makes sense. I might go back and do that next time.
As things were, I had a ticket for a special exhibit on the history of photography and I also walked through the rest of the exhibits. I can highly recommend this as well. The escalators where my favorite bit, I’ll admit that, but the exhibits were really interesting as well. It felt more spacious than the Musée d’Orsay. And it was a day that made me realize that I feel more at ease when a museum is dedicated to a specific artist or a specific period/movement rather than a random collection. Okay, I know it’s not random but if there are too many different styles and artists my brain gets overwhelmed. Kind of what happened here as well.
I’m guessing as I learn more about art this might improve, and my mind will be able to take in more of the different styles etc. I enjoyed my visit and loved the view from the top of the building even though it was raining again.
On my walk back to the hotel I got some happy noodles for dinner. I don’t know if the noodles were happy, but they sure made me happy. So, it was all good. I then hung out with friends on Zoom – perfect end to an exhausting day. I might have fallen asleep while on Zoom, but I had switched my camera off before that.
The next morning, I didn’t do much. I wrote my Sunday Morning Thoughts and went to the train station right after my 11 AM checkout time. My train was at 12.22. It was an uneventful train ride home and I somehow managed to trick the system and I was already home at 16.22.
Full marks on Paris trip number two. What an adventure!
Museum Pass – some thoughts
Is a museum pass worth it? Fair question. It might have been. I paid about 85 Euros for the five museums I went to and a 48h pass would have been 62 Euros. I felt that with always having to check if you still need to book a timeslot or if a museum is even included etc. that would have taken me more time than I was willing to spend. The way I did it I just booked whatever I wanted on my phone and didn’t have to worry about it again. I think if you plan your visit well ahead of time and are more organized than I tend to be, a museum pass would totally be worth it. I’m sure it’s less complicated than I made it sound. I don’t really know why I didn’t go for it. I usually buy museum passes. Something to think about.
Notes:
https://www.musee-armee.fr/en/your-visit/museum-spaces.html
https://www.musee-armee.fr/en/your-visit/museum-spaces/musee-de-lordre-de-la-liberation.html
Fascinating architecture again. Now I am curious about Napoleon and his impact on Switzerland, its ability to stay neutral; what a bonus for you as a citizen! And the entire “ French Connection.” Next time you venture off to Paris, you really must find a way to beam me over. I would love it! Speaking of which, have noticed the prominence of Macron in the news a great deal lately. He’s becoming very outspoken on world events. Not sure in what capacity but his influence seems on the rise, just a thought. 😘