Day #121 - Paris, France

Ste. Genevieve - the Pantheon

Notre Dame

Sacre Coeur

Moulen Rouge

Are de Triomphe (at night with French flag honoring Bastille Day)

Tuesday, July 13th

Late start this morning. We first headed out by foot to the Latin Quarter. We worked our way to the Pantheon. This specifically intrigued us because it was built in honor of Ste. Genevieve - the patron saint of Paris. Born in Nanterre, Genevieve (422-512) was a member of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy. When the Francs invaded Gaul and besieged Paris in 451, she ensured supplies went to the city. Later, she encouraged Clovis to get baptised and, so it is said, accomplished many miracles. Genevieve was cannoized as a saint in the 8th century and is buried at the present site of the Pantheon. In addition to Ste Genevieve, the take home things for me at the Pantheon were the crypts (burial sites) in the basement honoring some of the famous people from Paris, and also the pendulum in the very center of the building swinging from the rooftop demonstrating the rotation of the earth.

We then walked across the Seine to the Bastille. With tomorrow being Bastille Day, there was a concert going on in the roundabout. We grabbed a couple drinks and listened to the show for a while.

We next walked over to the island area housing Notre Dame. This place is really amazing. I'd been inside before, but it drives home the architectural excellence when seeing it all again. Did you know that Notre Dame was the most visited site in Paris? Unbelievable stat. I didn't believe this and even asked a couple people at the information booths. Coming directly from the tour guide - "13,650,000 people visited Notre Dame in 2007. Behind this star site, the 9 most visited museums and monuments are the Sacre-Coeur, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Centre Pompidou, the Musee of Orsay, the Cite des Sciences et de L'Industrie de la Villette, the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la Medaille-Miraculeuse, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Musee du Quai-Branly"

We found the metro after some effort and then took the train up to the Sacre Coeur. We walked the flights of steps to the top, and toured the inside of the church while mass was taking place. We sat and looked out over the city for about 30 minutes before heading down the hill. This place can never get old. One of the coolest things was watching this guy manipulating a soccer ball while on the concrete square support on top of the steps.

We walked over to the Moulon Rouge and explored some of this area in the northern part of the city. We then jumped on another metro heading down to the Champs-Elyssees. We ate dinner in one of the many outdoor cafes that spread along the busy streets. We toured a couple outside streets areas - seeing one of the famous restaruants in Paris - the Tallievant.

It was now nearing 10:30pm. We got some great pictures of the Arc de Triomphje at night with the lights shining bright. Great - I hadn't seen this before.

We got the metro back to the hotel, got information for tomorrow, and called it a day. Great day - busy. With a little persistence - we've seen alot of Paris in a small amount of time.