L'hôtel des Invalides and l'église du Dôme are in the 7th arrondissment of Paris. My friend CHM lives nearby, so I've spent a lot of time in the neighborhood. Napoleon's tomb is in the church. I remember a good visit there with my sister and a friend of ours from North Carolina back in 2007. Here's a post I did about "the church of the dome" in 2013.
I guess the biggest news here is that our pandemic lockdown is being eased slightly starting tomorrow. Shops and other businesses are re-opening tomorrow, partly so that people can do some Christmas shopping and to help businesses avoid bankruptcy. Restaurants, cafés, and bars will remain closed until January 20. We'll still have to fill out and sign a form stating the purpose of our trip when we go out shopping, and we aren't supposed to stay away from home for more than three hours at a time.
Another piece of news is that the Peugeot passed inspection once more. The car will be 20 years old next month — it was registered at Christmas in the year 2000. I bought it used when we first got here, and I'd like to keep it for another few years. It's fun to drive, and it's a great car for running around in the immediate Saint-Aignan area, doing our shopping and other errands. It has about 120K miles (nearly 200K kilometers) on it. Inspection here is a serious and thorough test, so I had the car completely serviced about a month ago to get it ready. And it worked. In December it will be time to take the Citroën for inspection (contrôle technique). I think it will pass easily, but it is 13 years old now! It only has about 60K miles (100K kilometers) on its odometer. That's called the compteur de kilomètres in French. We're not putting very many miles on the cars these days, that's for sure.
The dome is beautiful, especially with the gilding. I've never been to the building. Lockdown is not easing up here...it's going the other direction.
ReplyDeleteThat is the most amazing dome I have ever seen.... lovely bit of work... must've taken a lot of cleaning when people just heated on coal, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd yesterday's post where you mention the Godzilla turkeys.... there must be.... look at some of the legs that are sold solo!!
I've seen those gigantic turkey legs here, but I've never bought one.
DeleteFor a moment, it felt like home, but I'm many thousand miles away stuck in bed. That's life! I love the Dome?
ReplyDeleteA very pretty place, can't wait to go back. We only drive about 5,000 miles a year between all of the cars.
ReplyDeleteThat's about how much driving we do with our two cars combined.
DeleteIt’s a comfort to know our cars are safe and sound. I’ve always been very interested in Napoleon so going to les Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb was a highlight of my first trip to Paris. Thanks for these pictures.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear about the Peugeot passing inspection :)
ReplyDeleteBA and SJ, I guess I'm more than a little bit attached to the Peugeot because it's the car I bought a few weeks after we arrived here in Saint-Aignan.
ReplyDeleteI have my Prius serviced at the local dealer, and I've been getting frantic emails: "Where are you?" LOL. But I've driven less than 4,000 miles all year, instead of three times that. Reports are that less driving is giving us cleaner air, so it's a good benefit.
ReplyDeleteDo you find much difference between Peugeot and Citroen, in driving? Wondering which is better, if one is.
The Peugeot we've had for nearly 20 years now is like a little sports car in some ways. It has a fairly powerful engine and really holds the road. Both the cars have manual transmissions. The Citroën is more of a boat. It has a soft ride and it's a much bigger car. One of our neighbors told me he would like to buy a Citroën but his wife says no. She says riding in one gives her motion sickness. It's been a while since I've driven a car other than these two, except on trips to the U.S., where the cars are much bigger in general and the roads are so much wider. It's hard to compare.
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