Napoleons Tomb is just one part of the Hotel des Invalides, which is actually a misnomer as it was not a hotel, it was built in the 1670's to provide housing for some 4,000 disabled war veterans. It now contains the Army Museum as well as the relief maps, a church and a cafe and gift shop. To my surprise, I was totally captivated by the Army Museum. The suits of armor were breathtaking, and I had no idea they were so very intricate. There were 2 huge halls to go through, in the first one I carefully looked for the "no photo" sign, and saw none, so I snapped one picture. Instantly a guard materialized out of nowhere and gently told Madame that no flash was allowed. The halls are very dark and only small lights illuminate the glass cases where the displays are, so my photos were not very clear at all. I wandered into the next hall and was reviewing my pictures and taking some with no flash and looking at them, when a different guard appeared and said, in broken English, that my pictures wouldn't turn out if I did not use a flash, and please, to use one. I questioned him quite thouroughly about this, ("Flash? Yes, I CAN use a flash? ) and he was quite insistant that I could, so I hastily took as many pictures as I could. He smiled as I did so. Only in France...
No comments:
Post a Comment