22 May 2015 - Convoluted pathway to the Pantheon which was closed but Paris never disappoints!

With a little coaxing Luke joined me for the boulangerie walk.  I wonder if he'll remember holding my hand and walking through the streets of Paris.  I have memories of holding my Dad's hand and him being tall so I must have been small as I believe I am taller than he is these days!  I don't know how old I would have been.

There are all sorts of two and three wheelers in Paris!

School again for the morning which needless to say it wasn't without frustration but we are on schedule so that is good.  Tim and Annika are good at applying themselves to their school work but do get frustrated with the downloading and uploading all their work as it all takes time.  Some of the projects they have had to do through distance education are not always practical when on the move!  Annika is supposed to be leaving a jar of salt water to evaporate for a week but it just ain't possible!  And then there's the project where she had to make a creative demonstration of a kind of rock to show understanding.  The creative girl that she is came up with the idea of a stack of pancakes with dispersed crocodile sweets in the layers to represent sedimentary rock with fossils! 

Well, he might have been doing schoolwork...

Annika's science project which also became our lunch!

We had planned to walk to the Pantheon (Greek meaning every god) as it is one of those amazing old buildings in Paris to go to and admire.  It has functioned both as a church and a place for intellectuals to gather over the course of its history since 1757.  The necropolis there is the resting place for Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Louis Braille and Marie Curie.  Walking there means there was opportunities to check out other places en route!

Eglise Notre Dame du Champs

 Our walk there was not exactly "on course" but we got there through a series of turns and surprises and enjoyed the delightful spring weather as we walked.  En route we stopped at the church of Notre Dame des Champs (Our Lady of the Fields) which was peaceful and easy on the eyes after the opulence of Versailles yesterday.  Luke discovered that we could in fact hear the Metro under the floor of the church and we wondered if there were secret tunnels leading there for people to escape during the war.

Luke being a statue who wasn't Napoleon as first thought!

Little gardens at the top of the Jardin du Luxembourg

Around every corner are more lovely buildings or parks or statues so walking through Paris is fun for adults anyway!   For the kids, they just want to "get there" but we keep saying that the journey is also important!

The Pantheon

But when we got there - guess what?! - The Pantheon was closed for renovations.  We walked around it and could appreciate the height of 83 metres and the great dome but it would have been great to venture inside.  At this stage, Tim, needing to assert his 16 year old independence chose to run home while we explored the Latin quarter a bit more.

Right next to the Pantheon is the Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont, a beautiful looking building which we decided to explore.

St Genevieve from 6 AD, has her sarcophagus in this church which was the grounds of an abbey named after her.  It is now called Saint Etienne du Mont

 The church of Saint Etienne du Mont was built between 1492 and 1626 and is Gothic in style .  The bell tower drew my attention to the building first of all because of its Gothic fanciness!  Inside the spiral staircases and stained glass windows are impressive and the whole place is quite cavernous.

Windows in Saint Etienne du Mont

Very ornate

Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont

We walked through the back streets of the Latin Quarter and wobbly walled buildings and made our way to Maubert Mutualite Metro.  Interestingly enough it was the first Metro stop I ever got off at in Paris having stayed at a youth hotel near there in the late 1980's.  There was even the scaffold of the street market I remember in the square outside the station!  It was such a memorable name that I did remember it!

More of the Latin quarter

In the Latin quarter

Maubert Mutualite - classic and unforgettable name!

Alighting at our station, Lourmel, Luke and I went to the park where Luke joined may kids, their parents and au pairs for the late afternoon play.  He didn't know what to say to the kids who spoke to him but there seemed to be a bit of a digging team in the sand pit!

No real language barrier in the play ground!

We have been in Paris for a week and feel right at home!  The tiny kitchen in which you need to open the fridge door to open the oven door, has served us well despite the lack of cutlery and bench space.  It is cosy and safe and comfortable and has just enough room to not be on top of each other all the time.