Part Deux

Day #2 in France, Day #8 traveling

Upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle

Today was designed to be a bit lighter on the walking and learning.  I had three main things I wanted to see...Sainte Chapelle, the Pantheon, and the Louvre (free after 6 pm for under 26!).  Paris gets an A+ on their public transportation system.  The metro and train are incredibly easy to navigate even though the signs are 100% in French.  There are enough lines that all the major tourist attractions are close to one, if not two, stops, but not so many that it's a madly confusing tangle of lines.

Sainte Chapelle was designed by French Saint/King Louis IX to house the relics of the Passion of Christ including the Crown of Thorns in 1242.  It's probably the most beautiful chapel I have been in my entire life (to put in perspective, I've been in the Sistine Chapel and about 203948230498 other churches around the world).  The chapel is constructed of mainly stained glass windows.  The 15 windows with 1113 different scenes from the Bible consists of about 70% of the chapel's walls.  When Sainte Chapelle was constructed, it was part of a much larger palace, but the palace was deserted in the 14th century and subsequently most has been destroyed.

The main floor of the Pantheon

Next I went to the Pantheon, designed in the 18th century to honor the patron saint of Paris, St. Genevieve.  The current building wasn't the first basilica dedicated to this saint at this spot, a church had been here since 512.  King Louis XV wanted to honor St. Genevieve from curing his serious illness and commissioned a new, grander church to be built.  It operated at a place of worship for just under 100 years, until Victor Hugo was buried in the crypts.  Since then, great French men have found their resting place in the National Pantheon.  Important people like Voltaire and Rousseau are buried here.  Perhaps my favorite though was Mr.and Mrs. Curie.  I was amused by all the confused people wondering why there were so many Polish gifts around Marie Curie's tomb.  Apparently they don't teach that she is Polish in schools any more!

Obligatory photo

These two trips didn't take as long as I thought they would, so I decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower for the obligatory photo session with the most recognized monument in the world.  Built in 1887 for the World Fair in Paris, the Eiffel Tower was HATED by the French.  They thought it was the most ugly thing in the world, and the original plans were to tear down the tower after 20 years.  Mr. Eiffel thought it was a shame to waste all his work and all the steel, so he set his mind to making the tower useful to Parisians so they wouldn't destroy it.  Thus, he constructed a weather station so new experiments could be conducted from such a high level.  There was also a radio tower on top.  The radio tower did it, Parisians realized that the Eiffel Tower could be useful and decided to not destroy it.  Today it's one of the most recognizable monuments in the world.    

Favorite painting in the Louvre

After the Eiffel Tower, I met up with Pierre again.  We spent a couple hours back in chaplaincy chatting and drinking some coffee.  While Pierre was doing his homework, one of his friends gave me the boiled down history of France's government.  When I say boiled down, I mean I learned about 22 different regimes and 17 Constitutions in about an hour.  It's incredibly interesting to hear about how the French government works today, and how the French Revolution and former monarchy continue to influence modern politics.  It was great being with political science people again...I really miss being with my friends back home who love politics as much as me.  And this was a great break from all the walking and sightseeing, because I learned a lot and talked about my favorite thing in the world!

When I left Pierre, I hit the road looking for some food before going to the Louvre.  On Fridays, after 6 pm, the Louvre is free for everyone under 26.  Since it's normally over ten euro, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  The Louvre was originally built as a palace for the King of France.  It was only converted into a museum in the 1790s after the revolution.  Obviously, the first thing I did was head for the Mona Lisa...mostly because now when someone asks I can say I've seen it.  I'm usually more interested in religious artwork and found some gems in the Italian paintings.  My favorite might have been St. Francis Assisi receiving the stigmata from Christ. I also walked through an exhibition on Egyptian Coptic artwork and Napoleon's apartments.

Eiffel Tower at night

It was dark outside when I was done with the Louvre, so I figured it was the perfect time to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up.  My guide had mentioned a light show on the hour and I wanted to see what it was.  It's a spectacular sight!  The Eiffel Tower starts sparkling against the night sky.  When I was at the Louvre, I noticed that above the Eiffel Tower, the clouds are significantly brighter than the rest of the night sky.  It was kind of neat that you can tell where the Eiffel Tower is pretty much all the time!