Day 5 in Paris, Part Two: Friday

After visiting Suresnes in the morning, we had the rest of the afternoon to explore Paris. We began at the Panthéon --- France "Hall of Honor" (so to speak) for all the great people throughout French history. There are graves and memorials in this building for all the great writers, philosophers, scientists, politicians, and leaders of France. The building was initially intended to be a church for St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, but it never really served as a church. The walls are lined with murals telling the story of the history of Paris and France. It was built to fulfill a promise made by Louis XV when he was ill that if he recovered, he would build a more worthy church for St. Geneviève. It took some fifty years, but the church was finally completed in 1790 as France was in the throes of the French Revolution. So, total it honors France's legacy of great thinkers. IN the very center of the church is Foucault's pendulum with which he proved that the Earth rotates around the Sun. It is a glorious building, located in the heart of the Latin Quarter on Paris' Left Bank.

We saw the graves of great men such as Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Voltaire, Léon Gambetta, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean Jaurès, Jean Moulin, André Malraux, and Alexandre Dumas (père). We also saw a memorial for St. Antoine d'Exupéry. Here on the left are the graves of Nobel prize winners for Science and Physics, Marie and Pierre Curie.

Next to the Panthéon is the beautifully eclectic St. Étienne du Mont church, so we stopped in for a look:

We met up with the rest of our group for a late lunch on the left bank and then we caught our train to Madrid at the Gare d'Austerlitz. We took a night train to Madrid, sleeping in couchettes for the 12-hour trip.