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The
Pantheon of the Nation &
Musee
Carnivalet
We left the hotel around 1100. We immediately
noticed it was cool again. The high for the day was expected to
only reach 60 and with the strong breeze it felt like in the
upper 40s in the morning. It was a little chilly for the shorts
and short sleeve shirt I was wearing but I was comfortable enough
and I'd figured it would warm up a little once the sun broke
out. We got our Pain Aux Chocolait and Cafe au Lait at the
patiserre (pastry shop) around the corner from the hotel and hit
the road.
Our first stop of the was at
the Pantheon of the Nation dedicated 'to great man from the
grateful fatherland.' The first stone was laid by King Louis XV
in 1764. The building was originally a Christian Basilica
housing Saint Genevieve. In 1791, the Constituent Assembly
decreed that the basilica be transformed into a temple destined
to accommodate the remains of the great men of Nation. Among
those buried there are Mirabeau, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile
Zola, and Marie and Pierre Currie. There were a lot of paintings
and statues commemorating various French national heroes. As the
descriptions and such were in French (imagine that) we did not
get that much out of it, but it is worth a visit if you're in
the area. The entrance fee was €7.00.
We next headed to the Musee
Carnivalet. There was no entrance fee for this museum. It was
closed earlier in the week when we stopped by but was open
today. It contains many items from the history of Paris, the
majority of which was from the 12th century forward. The museum
is housed in two buildings (one was a hotel and one was a
mansion) that have been tied together. The overall flow was
better than some museums we went to but there were a couple of
dead ends which forced us to double back.
We decided to head back to our
home turf before having lunch. We got back around 1500. We
ate lunch Le Cafe Du
Metro (60 Boulevard Saint-Germain). I had a cheeseburger and
fries and Dick had Brouchete (kind of like a French bread
pizza). We both had .5 litre Guinness Stouts (at €8.00 a piece).
The whole meal was around €40.00 and was good. This was the one
time we got a major attitude from any of the French we met. He
was rude and dismissive from the moment he walked up until we
left. He dropped the menu in front of us, plopped down the
silverware and our beer and generally seemed like he could not
get out of our presence quickly enough. This was the one and
only time we experienced anything like this.
We headed down to restaurant
row for dinner around 2030. We ate Le Latin St. Jacques (4, Rue
St. Sevrin). We had one of the 'Formulae 15.50' meals. A
'formulae' is a combination meal, usually an entree and a main
dish. In this case we both had the Soupe l'Ouigon a Gratin and
the Potatoes Au Gratin with Salmon. The dinners were €15.50 a
piece. A had a .25 liter of Bordeaux €5.60 and Dick had a .25
liter Kronenburg €4.60. The total was €41.20. The food was very
good and we enjoyed the meal.
All good things must come to an
end. We got back from dinner around 2230 and began preparations
for our return trip. We called parisshuttle to have them pick us
up in the morning to head to Charles de Gaulle airport, but
their hours are from 7-7 so we will have to call them first
thing in the morning. We began organizing and packing and called
it a night.
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