News from the Front (6)

This, the final report from the front, sees us back in London after twelve days in France. 

The last part of our trip has involved very little in the way of military activity, although I was pleased to find in the centre of Strasbourg a point of reference to my French in Egypt project when I found this statue of Kléber in the square named after him.

Most of the time in Strasbourg was spent observing the stunning buildings of the old town, where the ultimate one had to be the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame. 

And another part was spent dodging the vagrants, beggars and drunks.

The next stop was Paris which we reached by the TVG in just under two hours with a top speed of around 320 Kph. Like any good wargamer I spent my time wisely taking photos out of the window of the terrain for future wargames tables.

No other military activities were planned and we headed to Paris where we did outings to the stunning Mont St Michel...

...and the aways fabulous Versailles.

When our visit to Versailles finished earlier than we originally expected, we were at a loose end of what to do, so rather than sit in a bar for the afternoon I suggested a visit to Musée de l'Armée. To my surprise this was agreed to, even though I had said that I wasn't going to the Musée on this visit. So a couple of happy hours were spent wandering around the 1700-1870 floors, with camera in hand. I chose not to visit the other parts of the Musée as I have seen them several times before. Here are still more museum photos. First some pre-Napoleonic shots...

...next some Napoleonic...

...and finally some more Second Empire items.

There was also a huge display of model soldiers, some metal flats, some card models (below), solid and hollow toy soldier types and some highly detailed and stunningly painted 90mm models. 

The display also contained this imteresting piece...

I wonder if there would be a call for this in 28mm?

Finally in London we visited Wellington Arch...

...and Apsley House, that contains a stunnting collection of Wellingtonian memorabilia.

While we waited for Apsley House to open we saw the contingent of the Blues and Royals enroute from Hyde Park Barracks to Horse Guards for the changing of the guard.

Then while in Apsley house we watched the Life Guards ride back to the barracks from the windows of the Waterloo Room. It seemed quite a fitting way to end the trip. 

Tomorrow we fly home.