Military hospitals, sculptures, and a boat ride

We started the day off with a visit to Les Invalides, a former military hospital created by Louis XIV to take care of his soldiers from the wars he started. Today, it's a military museum (it houses lots of old military weapons and uniforms) and the site for Napolean's tomb. We spent an hour at the museum.

After a lunch break in the neighborhood, we walked to Auguste Rodin's museum (which is just down the street from Les Invalides.)  Auguste Rodin was a famous sculptor who worked primarily in the late 1800's.  His work of art, The Thinker, was right outside in the garden.  We saw his other famous sculptures (The Kiss, Burghers of Calais, and Gates of Hill) before going inside his house to visit the exhibits there.

After the Rodin museum, we had some free time to explore Paris.  So, we took the subway down to the Chanmps Elysees to visit the Arc de Triomphe where the tomb of the France's unknown Soldier is.  Afterwards, we had time to shop on the famous avenue before meeting at the Pont Neuf to take a boat ride down the Seine River in Paris.  We saw all sorts of famous sites (The Eiffel Tour, Notre Dame Cathedral, Museum D'Orsey) as we enjoyed the hour-long ride.

Here's our view of the Eiffel Tower from the boat.  Sunday, we're eating dinner on the first level!  Fun!

The weather was terrific today! We had sunny skies, a nice breeze, and no rain! I hope that weather forecast lasts the rest of the trip! I uploaded pictures to flickr here.