Misc. Bits & Pieces (Last Blog from Paris)

This is my last post from Paris. Today is our last full day...gots to pack. Tomorrow at 6am it's off to the airport. This next item was written a few days ago.



It's always nice to run into a fellow Yank, especially if he's up on a pedestal.

Don't recognize him cuz the photo is too small?


















Here's what's on the pedestal.

A bit more info on it:

http://www.coolstuffinparis.com/george_washington_in_paris.php






We did this visit very differently than previously. This time we pretty much just hung out. It is really a vacation. We've often said that being retired, it's all vacation but it turns out that's not entirely true. Back home, it's yoga three time a week, the airport every Wednesday afternoon, the Obama campaign & Susanne has a regular weekly hospice patient. Other than a small bit of my court appointed advocate work by email, we've been free to do nothing or everything or something in between. We've done much more walking.

We like it this way. It's not for everyone.

It looks as if Susanne won't be doing a blog post. She prefers to upload the pics to her Facebook page.

Yesterday I went to the Army museum, didn't take the camera. It's about 90% in French, you can get an audio guide but with literally thousands of individual items, I don't have the patience. So I'll write about it. The Army Museum really comes in two parts. One is LGF's Tomb. Very impressive, saw it a few years ago. Not compelling to return to, he doesn't move around much.

The military side of the Army museum has been redone, the Middle Ages exhibit is not interesting to me. Dozens & dozens of full suits of armor...they all seem to blend. Same with the very early, very ornate flintlock muskets.

Years ago, there was an exhibit of the evolution of firearms with a very long row of display cases showing muskets/rifles in chronological order was interesting to me. As I walked down the line I could see the various innovations (flintlock to ball & cap, ball to rifled projectile, bolt action to automatic) & when they occurred. This exhibit is now gone, darn it.

Two portraits of LGF were interesting to me, missed having my camera. The first was in 1804, at the height of his power. There he was in all his grandeur, ermine robe, scepter, the lot.

Later on, another done in 1812. By then he had been through a lot. There he sat, somewhat wistful, a bit hunched over...the wind taken out of his sails.

Two displays interested me.

The first was a description of the Battle of Agincourt, in October, 1415. Shakespeare's "Henry V, Part 2" is about this battle. It's where the term "band of brothers" comes from.

Hank5 wanted to take his troops back to an English held part of France to sit out the winter. The French decided to intercept him & finish him off once & for all. They assembled a much larger force than Hank5 & lined up. Three rows of French against two rows of English. They had many armored, mounted knights, Hank5 had only a few.

The English countered by having pointed, slanted stakes driven into the ground at horse height to slow the mounted units.

More importantly, the French did not allow for a recent weapon development that was considered the most effective & devastating weapon of the time...the English long bow.

Hank5 had his archers send waves & waves of arrows into the French with ruinous effect. The French were helpless because there were no weapons they could use to counter. Hank5 won the day.

When examining the French war strategy of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, WW1 & WW2, it has been said that the French fight wars with technology & strategy one war behind. I didn't realize it went all the way back to 1415.

Fast forward to the World War II exhibit. This is fascinating because the French role in WW2 was minimal. The French Army folded so rapidly, even Hitler was surprised. Here's an indicator. Hitler marched into Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. After rapidly defeating Poland, he turned his attention to France. He moved so quickly that by April 18, 1940 (just over 8 months later), he posed for a photo at the Trocadero with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The United States did not enter WW2 until Dec. 7, 1941. So for four months of 1939, all of 1940 & all of 1941, the British were absolutely alone against the greatest war machine of the time. I don't think we really appreciate that.

Remember in a previous post I mentioned the French fleet being scuttled in Toulon in 1942? More history here. The French admiral in charge of the fleet had orders to sail for Algeria, to take the fleet out of danger. He refused to obey. As a result 90 French warships of all kinds & sizes were scuttled. Ninety friggin' ships!! Can you imagine what those ships could've done in 1942 to clear the North Atlantic of U-boats? Ike must've been furious.

Enough history.

Last night we invited friends to dinner at A La Biche au Bois ("A doe in the woods"; features game, duck/venison as part of their menu), our all time favorite restaurant in Paris. For 29.80 euros (about US$39.00 including tax/tip), you have a four course meal...appetizer, main course, cheese & dessert. Lots of choices. Drinks are extra, we had two bottles of wine.



Among the main dishes chosen were lamb chops, coq au vin (chicken in wine), steak. Note the mound of fries.

These folks are our French family.















Here's the cheese tray. You point to the cheeses you want, indicate how much & they're yours. But by this time you've had two courses with dessert yet to come, so going all out isn't realistic.











OK, dear blog reader, that's it from Paris. We've had a super time. Old friends, new friends, old places, new places. There are other shots to post & things to write about but our life goes into high gear immediately upon our return so I'm not sure I'll get to them.

Thanks for hanging around!!!