Napoleon in Egypt

So today I went to see the exhibit that I had been waiting almost two months to go to- Napoleon in Egypt, at the Arab World Institute!! Basically, after Napoleon had some big victories in Italy, the Frenchies sent him to Egypt to do his thing. He also brought with him like 130 scientists and intellectuals of all kinds. The French eventually got all their ships blown up by the British and the Rosette Stone was lost to the Brits, but the intellectuals came home with thousands of drawings, artifacts and new knowledge. They published this book in about 20 volumes all about Egypt, which started the "Egyptomania" craze. It was also the start of a kind of relationship between France and Egypt. At the Place de la Concorde in Paris there is a huge obelisk that the Egyptians sent as a gift. And now that I've seen that I am very, very happy :)

Then I did a MILLION miles of walking. The Institute is right by the Seine, so I just wandered down along it and then into some side streets (thanks to my new Paris Practique, with every single street in it, I can't get lost). I walked past the Cluny Museum (medieval stuff) and the Parthenon (lots of famous dead people there) and explored two little churches. I also found part of one of the old walls from the middle ages.

Whew. Finally I decided to take a break and went home for a bit. Tonight I went to the Louvre, but could only make it for about an hour. Too tired!

Tiny bit of the old wall left!
St. Etienne du Mont- pretty little church I wandered into
Yay, me at the Louvre with the French Sculptures
Also, I'm adding a little map here in case you aren't familiar with Paris. The black line was my walking route today. The star is where I live. The triangle is the Institut Catholique (school) and the square is Accent (other school). Its a little small, but if you click on it it'll enlarge.