walk 11: lutetia pulchra est: musee national du moyen age, sorbonne, pantheon, saint etienne du mont, arenes de lutece

tuesday may 15.
Chloe and I decided to get up early today to get a walk done before we had to meet up with the class to go to Versailles. It was cold and rainy which meant miserable for me since I have no umbrella and no jacket. the first museum was closed (which neither of us were too sad about) so we walked around the sorbonne, past the college de france, and to the pantheon.

the sorbonne-founded in 1257. Tourists and visitors are not allowed inside

the college de france, founded in the 16th century by francois i (who I did a report on during the prep class). today it is used as a research institution and public lecture hall.

hippy market- I kind of wish I had time to go inside.

The Pantheon (temple of the nation)

The Pantheon is where some of the most influential people of France are buried. The ground floor is full of beautiful sculptures and murals and a pendulum in the center. The architecture (by Soufflot) was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome- very neoclassical. It was originally a church dedicated to Saint Genevieve, but due to the Revolution it was transformed into a mausoleum for the heroes of France. Fun fact: Rodin's 'The Thinker' was kept here from 1906-1922 (today it is in the beautiful Rodin museum-read more about that here)

this pendulum proved the rotation of the earth.

the construction work distracted from the beautiful architecture. um, rude? we should have asked for our money back.

joan of arc murals. for some reason i thought i read that joan of arc was buried here so i was totally looking at these thinking her body was somehow buried in the walls behind it! well thats completely false. its just for looks.

if you ever go to the pantheon, do not miss the little door at the back that leads down to the crypts. this is where you will find the tombs of some very well known and influential people. Also bring a jacket.

voltaire and rousseau's tombs. ironic that they hated each other and now their tombs are facing each other for eternity.

also the tomb of Marie Curie-probably lots of radiation in that room. i wouldn't linger.

also in the Pantheon: Victor Hugo, Jean Paul Marat, Emile Zola, Jean Jaures...etc. Lots of the people we've been learning about in class.

Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont-built in 13th century as a monastery, rebuilt as a renaissance church

i love looking at the windows now that I know how to read them :)

wall that surrounded Paris in 1210

Left: this looks a lot smaller on here but it was actually a huge painting on the side of a building. Not sure what it was for but I thought it was cool. On the right is the fountain at Place de la Contrescarpe.

The last part of the walk was the Arenes de Lutece, which we didn't have time to see since we had to meet up with our class to go to Versailles. I read a little bit about it though-it was a Roman arena for plays, built in the 1st century CE. Not super interesting to me but I'm sure its a cool place to visit nonetheless.
hope this wasn't too terribly boring, more fun stuff coming soon but right now its 2am and i am getting up early in the morning to hit the flea markets one last time (i leave paris on monday!  heading to the loire valley for a week and then off to nice, milan, and venice.) so i should probably go to bed. i am such a bad blogger. sorry.
xoxo Heather