La Musee de l'Armee, Paris

The last two times I've been in Paris the 17th-18th century part of the La Musee de l'Armee at les Invalides was closed for renovation.  I finally got to see it.  There is a plethora of swords, muskets & uniforms.

There are reports on the rest of the museum on the blog if you go back a couple of years.

There were some quite good audio visuals of a selection of battles - Rocoi, Fontenoy, Austerlitz & Waterloo.   The overhead projector shows the manoeuvres on the table while you listen to the commentary on headphones (choice of French or English).

The pic is Fontenoy as the British infantry are about to attack from the top left.

In the attic there is a selection of Louis XIV's 1:600 scale models of the fortresses of France.

There was also a Charles de Gaul exhibition that was new since my last visit.  They give you earphones so the English speakers can get the propaganda.  Still not impressed by the pomous bastard I'm afraid.  I returned to base to finish my wargamer's Saturday in Paris with a late lunch of bread and rose and a bit of painting (of Gauls of course) while listening to the AFL on the net.    Note the traveller's painting kit with the pizza box used as work-in-progress tray (the pizza was jambon, pommes de terre & fromage - I passed on les escargottes).