Our 2nd day in Paris found the
National Park Trust Institute group at the Hotel des
Invalides. Ordered by Louis XIV,
it was the first national hospital for soldiers to be built.
The resulting structure, with its
gilded dome (pictured above), is a masterpiece of 17th century classical French religious architecture. Now a military museum, it contains flags and banners, swords,
medals, armor and other items from French military history,
including some of Napoleon's personal possessions. However, the main attraction is
Napoleon's Tomb. This enormous crypt
contains six coffins placed one inside the other, nesting-doll style, with the emperor inviolable in the center coffin.
After touring the Tomb, the group gathered in a local park for an impressive talk by
Dr. Hind Sadek on the life of Napoleon. A lively discussion about Napoleon's invasion of Egypt followed.
Later that evening the group was joined by Mr.
Paddy
Booz (pictured), a writer for National Geographic, who shared his experiences in traveling national parks in Europe, and
especially France. He has been to 18 of the 24 World Heritage
sites in China, a country of special interest to the National Park Trust Institute since our signing a Memorandum of Understanding with China Parks.
After a full day of visiting historical sites and learning more about the parks of Europe and France, the group spent the morning of the third day visiting the region of Champagne. Here we made a stop at the
Moet Chandon Champagne House (pictured) in Epernay which included an educational tour
where we learned about the centuries old process of making the sparkling wine.
After lunch in Epernay, we moved on to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame (pictured) which was the age-old setting for the coronations of the French kings. Clovis, king of the Franks in the 6th century, was baptized in an early structure on this site; Joan of Arc led her recalcitrant dauphin here to be crowned King Charles VII; Charles X's
coronation in 1825 was the last.
