Hôtel des Invalides

This is a cool museum to visit. It once was and still is a hospital for veterans. If you like Napoleonic history then this is a MUST SEE museum. I personally enjoyed it.

I cannot emphasize enough how cool and vast this museum is. Super worth seeing.

Started in the weapons gallery. So many swords, knives, shields, and other weapons from different eras like the French, Ottoman Turks, the Japanese and so forth.

Then went to the big French/Napoleon exhibition. Wow. So much information, portraits, videos, and stuff to learn. You could spend the entire day here. So many rooms and hallways to see.

Finally finished with Napoleon's tomb. Wow! What a casket for one man. Definitely their crown jewel. What Abraham Lincoln was to us, Napoleon is to the French. Definitely visit this museum!

An amazing piece of history with remarkable architecture. Napoleon the First's tomb is here. Well worth a visit!

This is a military hospital, nursing home & chapel that are now the Military Museum. There was a lot to see and do here, we purchased timed tickets on line so we didn't have to get on the cue here. We spent half the day exploring.

Such a great experience.

My only regret is underestimating how much I would enjoy this place and not leaving myself more time.

How many times do you get a chance to enter Napoleons tomb?

To stand in front of swords held by actual knights?

Weapons dating back to 1500 BC? Check

Samurai armor dating back 400 years? YUP

Suits of armor worn by kings? Check

I don't know how necessary it is to revisit a lot of places in Paris once you've been there. But this will certainly be once that I do.

If you're on the fence about going. Allow me to push you over........GO!!!!

I don't know what I expected but, it's not what I got!
While walking in this part of Paris to see other attractions, I kept noticing an interesting building in the distance. After some time weaving through the area I found myself one street over so, decided to look it up on my phone.

One of the reasons I could see it from almost anywhere in this part of Paris is the 351-foot high dome gilded in 28 lbs of gold! Originally built in the 1600s as a hospital for soldiers, it now contains the tomb of Napolean! What a find.

Just another beautiful building I was prepared to appreciate from the exterior as I walked by, ended up being an unbelievable must-see. All the cliche you hear about Napolean comes into clear focus when you see his over the top final resting place. I mean this is almost absurd.

I am sure military buffs would get more out of this building than most, as it houses the military history of the highest order. It was used as an "old soldiers" hospital well into the twentieth century. A chapel was built there and the soldiers required to attend. However, it was expanded and became a recognized cathedral. Designed in a Baroque style modeled after St Peters Basilica, it's an impressive church and one of the best reasons to see the building including Napoleon's tomb.

Several of Napoleans's family members, French military officers that served under Napolean and other French war heroes are also interned here in various magnanimous and impressive coves of the building. The tomb itself is the size of a small school bus and made of red quartzite sitting on a green granite base! I spent a lot of time gawking at this alone.

Definitely worth a visit or a study from your quarantine lair!

After visiting the military museum on the 11th this month in November, I came to the gift shop. It was close to 5pm and I worried about not being able to see the emperor's tomb. So I asked a worker who happened to be at the entrance about the open time that day. The gentleman was skinny and comparably short. He seemed to be in his mid 40 to late 40's and have less hair in the middle of the head. He looked up and frowned, shook his head then continued minding his business while saying something I didn't understand, which I assumed it was French. I was confused because apparently he was annoy that somebody would DARE to ask him any questions. Not being able to get an answer, I had to ask him again. He used a tongue - so arrogant that make me feel like he took himself as a king, finally said 2 words in English while pointing at me "check there!" I looked at the direction of his finger and found out it was the brochure, which was in French.

Please remember, at this moment he barely even lift his precious head. I knew he intended to offend and anger me. But I controlled myself and said "well you seem to be very polite." He said "OF COURSE!" Then use his left hand to drive me away.

This tremendous rudeness almost shocked me - it has never happened while I was traveling in any other countries or regions. The fact that his rudeness was performed so naturally that it made think it actually happened a lot on this guy.

I finally came back to the gift shop later. Unfortunately, the same guy was working as a cashier. The stripe reader on the other cashier's didn't work so I had to queue in line for him. I knew for sure he would humiliate me again, even though I still couldn't know why. So a female worker kindly helped me with checking out.

During checkout, I tried to talk or at least to interact with him to figure out if he just had a bad day, but he just pretended like he couldn't hear me at all. The people standing in line heard it and all felt he was rude, he could still manage to ignore my existence.

Anyway, as an English speaker from the US, I felt being shamed and humiliated on purpose on my first day in France. It was funny to realize that the world is more like a unit than before but there are still people who would act in this racist way - at least in my opinion, he seemed to be very upset about the presence of an English speaker that he had to hold grudge against me or whoever dared to interact with him in English.

Les Invalides is an amazing historic site. There are people visiting from all over the world every day. A man like him is just ruining it.

Hôtel des Invalides is a beautifully restored classical French architectural landmark and home to the tomb of Napoléon, tallest church in Paris, and Musée de l'Armée.

It is not a hotel.

It is also no longer a place for "Invalides."

Ok, so, what are invalides? Well, they're military veterans no longer "valid" to serve. None other than the Sun King Louis XIV ordered the construction of this immense hospital in 1670 to receive and assist wounded warriors who were declared "invalid" to continue service in the army.

It's officially known as "Hôtel National des Invalides" which Wikipedia translates to "The National Residence of the Invalids." Many just refer to it as "Les Invalides." I'll refer to it as another must-visit tourist destination in a city overflowing in monuments.

The Dôme des Invalides is gilded in nearly 28 pounds of gold leaf and, at a height of 351 feet (107 meters), it stands as an eye-catching landmark visible from many parts of Paris. Under the dome, is the tomb of Napoleon.

That's right this is the final resting place of the the one and only Napoléon Bonaparte ... aka Napoléon 1st ... aka The Little Corporal ... aka Nightmare of Europe ... aka The Heir of the Republic ... aka Le Général Entrepreneur ... aka The Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation. Seriously, only Daenerys has more titles than this guy. Anyways, he's dead and you can look at the ornate box in an ornate room under an ornate dome that holds his remains.

Also at Les Invalides is the the Cathedral Saint-Louis des Invalides and the Musée de l'Armée as well as a huge military parade ground ... from which we were shooed away from because President Macron was arriving soon for a ceremony. Other museums include Historial Charles de Gaulle, Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération, and Musée des plans-reliefs.

* Admission: €12 for Adults
* Under 18 is free
* Closed: Jan 1, May 1, and Dec 25
* Museums are open 10:00am-5:00pm (later in summer)
* The grounds are open 7:30am-7:00pm
* On summer Tuesdays, Les Invalides is open to 9:00pm
* 2 entrances: Place Vauban and the Esplanade
* A-40 minute iPad Dôme guide is €5
* Check out the concerts & events schedule
* Le carré des Invalides restaurant opens at 9:00am
* The gift shop opens at 10:00am
* Coat check is at the Place Vauban entrance

Les Invalides (aka Hôtel des Invalides) is a huge complex featuring classic French architecture designed by Liberal Bruand and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The architectural achievements alone make this a site awe-inspiring while the dome, tombs, and museums make it a must-visit tourist destination in the heart of Paris.

This was one of my favorite museums in Paris!

Being a big fan of military history, this was one of the places I looked forward to the most. It had everything a military history buff could want..Napoleon's Tomb, life sized models of soldiers, and diagrams of military battles. I could spend hours in that museum watching those digital reenactments of different battles like Austerlitz or Waterloo.

A must visit for military history fans!

An excellent museum and monument - in fact, it's actually multiple museums in one, so much to take in that if you're a history buff you could easily spend an entire day here and not see it all. What's also nice is that it is relatively quiet and free from massive tour bus crowds, so after dealing with massive swarms of humanity at the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay it made for a refreshing break in the action.

Napoleon's Tomb is not to be missed, of course. Even if you're not into visiting tombs and graves, the sheer massive size of it and over-the-top grandeur is a sight to behold. But then there is the excellent museum of the two World Wars, full of historical artifacts, uniforms, propaganda posters, and videos that bring history to life (from a very French point of view, of course). There's a massive collection of arms and armor, by which point I was a bit too exhausted to spend much time in, The Cathedral of Saint-Louis, and just the history of the buildings themselves. Definitely worth spending at least a few hours in if you have any interest in history.

Our tour bus drove by this building where Napoleon's tomb is displayed. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go inside, but I did get these great exterior pictures.

The Hôtel des Invalides was commissioned in 1670 by Louis XIV in order to provide accommodation and hospital care for wounded soldiers. The chapel of the Invalides was built at the end of the 17th century by Jules-Hardouin Mansart and contains Napoleon's tomb.

Next visit in Paris I will make this historic building my number one priority to see!