So, the low-key day today involved the Panthéon and Luxembourg Gardens. You know, typical stuff.
And following that theme, I'm keeping it pretty low-key with the post. I think pictures speak for themselves.
This is the King Clovis the Dalmatian I met is named after.
Thousand-year-old wall casually in the middle of a street. That's Europe.
Mr. Rankin would approve.
So, yes, there is another Panthéon. We have to thank Zhana for pointing out this gem to us. Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Marie and Pierre Curie--they're all buried here. Other famous Frenchmen (yes, mostly men) are as well. For me, it's like a Who's Who based on Metro stops and streets I've seen with the same names.
Author of Le Petit Prince. I don't believe he's buried here, but he's definitely someone to pay tribute to.
I'm very thankful that the National Assembly adopted the Panthéon as its architectural symbol. So it has been saved from the iconoclasm that even has affected the Notre Dame Cathedral. This place is very beautiful and pristine.
"Toward glory."
Panthéon: The Dollhouse Edition.
Beautiful ceiling. Wish it were an open oculus like the one in Rome, though.
Here lies Voltaire.
Voltaire: "Man of nature and truth."
And here's the great writer himself. I'm glad that he is rightly restored in a place of honor. People like Victor Hugo in exile makes me depressed.
It's difficult to see, but Alexander Dumas's name is under Hugo's.
Okay: this picture of Victor Hugo looks like Liam Neeson, right?
It was very cool to see Toussaint Louverture's tomb here. He was a leader in the slave revolt in Haiti, which John Green teaches us about here. Cool to see the history in person.
They have lovely tributes to all the martyrs here. It really moved me.
Yes, your eyes do not deceive you: there is a cat sculpture in the tomb. Was this an accident, or did one of the deceased just really want a cat in his tomb? I'm thinking the second option. I like that scenario.
For the writers!
This picture is rather out of place. It is what I saw when I was leaving the Curie Museum; there's a similar sketch on the outside of the dome.
Fortunately, Luxembourg didn't look as anemic as the gardens were looking a few weeks ago.
What I was saying to Matt is that we need to have more seating in gardens in the US. I feel like gardens are meant to be hurried through in America, but here people sit here all day and enjoy it.
Apparently this is a thing: they put points on top of the statues so that pigeons cannot land and desecrate the saintly figures. I can't say I approve. Plus this just looks weird.
But the pigeons are always going strong. Just as Grandpa would want.
I love lion statues.
The symmetry makes it great.
TTFN.
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