The famous & towers – a view to a kill
Sunday – we wake to blue skies and the promise of another fine day. Today we visit the Pantheon, the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysee, three famous French institutions. After my usual brekkie of toast, vegemite, juice and coffee all prepared in our own kitchenette, we hot foot it for the local metro Louis Blanc and commence our journey.
The morning is warm and we arrive at the Pantheon. It is at this time that we discover that the tickets for the Eiffel Tower have been left back at the apartment. Crap! Tyler offers to go back and get them while Kylie and I do the tourist thing at The Pantheon.
The Pantheon (meaning “Every god”) is a building in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France. Paris’ Pantheon was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, but after many changes now combines liturgical functions with its role as a famous burial place.
The frieze above the portico is most impressive and reminds me of the Parthenon in Athens but the rest of the building seems rather austere. The portico, with its large Corinthian columns was modelled after the Pantheon in Rome. It is not hard to see the resemblance.
The Panthéon was constructed after King Louis XV vowed that he would build a new grand basilica if he recovered from an illness. History tells us that during this time he prayed to the patron saint of Paris, Saint Geneviève, in the hope that she would help him recover. He did recover and when he finally died in 1744, the new basilica was dedicated in her name.
The area where the current Panthéon stands today has however been a sacred site for an even longer time when in the years 507 and later in 512 it became the first burial place for Saint Geneviève, who had protected Paris from barbarians
We enter and pay our fees and then we get a glimpse of the wonderful interior. The floor plan shows a Greek-cross layout, 110m long and 85m wide and the large dome reaches a height of 83m.
There are many statues, paintings and mosaics and we will investigate as much of them as we can but before we do this however, there is one very interesting piece of work that takes our eye.
In 1851, the astronomer Jean Bernard Léon Foucault first held his experiment, proving that the world spins around its axis. A few weeks later Foucault made his most famous pendulum when he suspended a 28kg brass-coated lead bob with a 67 meter long wire from the dome.
The plane of the pendulum’s swing rotated clockwise 11° per hour, making a full circle in 32.7 hours. In 1855 the original bob used in 1851 at the Panthéon was moved to the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers.
An exact copy of the original pendulum has been swinging permanently since 1995 under the dome of the Panthéon, Paris. What an intriguing piece of equipment.
This pendulum has a kind of hypnotic effect and I have to break away to uncover the rest of the Pantheon. At the far end is a most impressive collection of statues.
This is known as “The National Convention” which shows the symbol of France, Marianne, surrounded by soldiers and members of the parliament after the revolution.
Just under Marianne the phrase “Vivre libre ou mourir” is inscribed; meaning “To live free or die”.
There are many wonderful pieces of art on the walls but it is near impossible to get good photos because of the many pillars – however I will do my best. Artworks include from left to right ‘The Crowning of Charlemagne’, “The Death of St Genevieve’ and ‘The Baptism of Clovis’.
Wandering around in here for quite some time looking at the artwork it is easy to see how the Pantheon is a tribute to France and its esteemed citizens. It is then time to visit the Crypt.
The Pantheon Crypt is the subterranean chamber that is the final resting place for many famous French writers, poets and scientists.
They include Voltaire; Rousseau; Victor Hugo; Emile Zola; Marie Curie and Louis Braille.
On the right is the tomb of Voltaire.
Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time.
As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.
On the sides of the alcoves are written the names whose tombs are within. Some of the alcoves are roped off but you can still get to see the tombs of the famous.
On the left is the tomb of Aexandre Dumas – writer of the Three Musketeers (One for all and all for one!), The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo to name just three.
On the right is the Curie tomb. Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist. She is famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Pantheon.
Her husband Pierre was a physicist and a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism and radioactivity. In 1903 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife in recognition of the extraordinary services they rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena.
There are many more tombs of well known French citizens and I take photos of each but it is time to come back to the land of the living. We say farewell and emerge into the sunshine and blue skies of Paris.
Tyler has not yet returned so we decide coffee is an excellent option. There is a small cafe just across the road – on the left of the photo – so we grab a table outside and enjoy watching the Parisiennes go about their business all the time keeping an eye out for Tyler. It is lovely to be a part of the cafe scene.
In the photo on the left you can also see our next objective – the Eiffel Tower. Seems to be such a long way off but we have our trusty train tickets so that will make it easier on the tootsies.
As we are enjoying our wonderful coffee – Tyler arrives and now we have our Eiffel tickets so everything is once again right with the world. He joins in the light refreshments and after everyone seems rested enough to proceed we head off.
A slight detour is in order as there is a replica of the Statue of Liberty that interests Tyler. This statue is a miniature of her big sister in New York Harbour and in fact, this statue faces in her direction.
Given to the city in 1889 by the Americans living in Paris she is situated on the Ile aux Cygnes in the Seine River. The Parisian Lady Liberty is roughly one tenth the size of her American sister and is made of bronze instead of copper.
It has been a long walk to see her and now we must walk back the way we came to reach our main objective for the afternoon.
Fortunately for us the walk is not too strenuous and the tree lined avenues, even though not offering much shade, look lovely when they are coupled with the antique looking street lights.
As we walk along the river we get some good shots of the Tower which only whets our appetite for things to come.
The day has warmed considerably and we stop for occasional slurp from our water bottles. As we get closer to the Tower the amount of tourists increase – which is natural. The open spaces around and under the Tower as you see in the movies are all fake. Unless you come here in the dead of Winter whilst there is a raging snow storm, you will be surrounded and pushed by tourists and your ear drums will be assaulted by buskers and loud music. But I suppose they have to earn a living.
You also have the usual odd assortment of hawkers with their touristy miniature towers. Honestly, we have encountered a network of these unsavoury and most probably illegal characters throughout Europe who at the sight of the local Gendarmes hot foot it out of sight only to return when the constabulary disappear.
Our timed tickets that will take us all the way to the top are for 3pm so we decide to have a walk around the base and get a late lunch. Lining up at the typical tourist fast food outlets – which charge like wounded elephants I might add – we find a place in the shade and relax.
We venture forth about 15 minutes earlier than our ticket time and are promptly told by someone with no people skills that we are early and no we cannot get in – we have to wait until 3pm. So we stand in the line until 3pm and then move forth. It doesn’t matter that there are others who have tickets with times after ours are let in with us, we soldier on.
Through the security scanners and into the lift we are crammed in like sardines. Really, it is hard to move and we are unlucky enough to be with a group of rather pungent people – I shall say no more. Poor Kylie practically passes out and has dissolved into a state of near collapse.
We are glad to finally reach Level 1 where we have to change to get the lift right to the top. Another stuff up – we have to line up again to get this lift and unfortunately even though we have tickets that say 3pm we have to queue along with everyone else including those who have just purchased tickets and the wait is about an hour! If we are crammed in like we have just been then no thanks – – –
We decide to opt out – which means no champagne at the top for us, not that it was included mind you, you had to buy it yourself but it would have been nice.
Oh well, the views are just as good, maybe better, from this level so we move slowly around the viewing platform and get some great photos.
Photo on the left is of Sacre Couer. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of Montmartre, the highest point in the city. It was was designed by Paul Abadie and construction began in 1875 and was finished in 1914. Our apartment is in that area and not far from Sacre Couer but – due to lack of time we don’t get to visit for the usual Kodak moments.
On the right is the Palais de Chaillot, a building erected for the world Fair in 1937. In the front are the famous Trocadero fountains. Yep, no fountaining today but they must be wonderful at night when they are all working and lit up.
The River Seine flows right through the heart of Paris bordering 10 of the 20 arrondisements (suburbs). There are 32 bridges crossing the river but the oldest of them is the Pont Neuf which has been immortalized by artists and even modern films.
The photo on the right highlights the golden dome of Les Invalides. It is a set of buildings containing a hospital and retirement home for war veterans along with museums and monuments all relating to the military history of France. It is also the burial site for Napoleon Bonaparte.
Behind the golden dome are the towers of Saint Sulpice. It took over 100 years to build this imposing church. It has a classical facade featuring two towers and a two tiered colonnade. The ever imposing Notre Dame is on the left of the photo.
The clear sky makes for some magnificent views but the crowds are ever increasing so time to make our way down and thankfully the lift is not as bad going down as what it was coming up!
Crossing the road we head towards the Trocadero fountains to get some better views of the Tower and we are not disappointed.
We have a nice walk through a shady park and arrive at the top. It is full of tourists all waiting to get their photo taken at this very same spot. Why should we be any different, after all it is a great place for a photo don’t you think?
As we leave we are greeted by a tribute to the one and only Michael Jackson. There is a crowd of dancers dressed as MJ performing to a medley of his songs. We are not sure why but they are collecting for some cause – and as I don’t know what it is I do not donate but some of the dancers are pretty good.
Let’s go – next stop The Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triomphe. What can I say about these two that you don’t already know? If you don’t then may I suggest Wikipedia?
To get to this spot I had to cross the road at the lights – stop half way on a little traffic island and then after taking the necessary snaps finish crossing. Sounds simple but let me say that it was not. There are so many people wanting to take the customary photos that it is a wonder we were not killed.
See the traffic in the front of this photo? There were even tourists making their way through that so that they could get underneath the arch. I may be foolhardy sometimes but I am definitely not an idiot! There are no photos of the Champs Elysee as I thought it looked just like any old wide street. Call me picky if you will but it wasn’t exciting at all.
Oh wait, the only exciting part was that when we arrived at the Louis Vuitton store, a place that Kylie wanted to visit and buy a bag – there was a queue just to get in and the wait was about 30 minutes. Needless to say this really cheesed off Kylie so we went on our way minus the LV bag!
We walk all the way down the Champs Elysee past the Grand Palace and at the end is the Place de la Concorde. During the French Revolution the statue of Louis XV was torn down and the new government erected the guillotine in the square. It was here that Louis XVI was executed along with his queen Marie Antoinette. It is late in the afternoon and there are not many people around so that is good for us.
We wander around unhindered but there is always the occasional busker, this time it is a person dressed as a mummy of an Egyptian Pharaoh. I am sure that I saw him in Rome – he sure gets around for a dead person.
Also at this magnificent square is the Fountain of River, Commerce and Navigation not to mention an obelisk from Luxor decorated with hieroglyphs praising the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II.
We have had a pretty full day so we make our way back to our apartment s that we can rest for tomorrow we go to Disneyland Paris. Who’s the leader of the club? – woo hoo!!!
Highlight of the day : the views from the Eiffel Tower