(Since being here I’ve discovered I have a smiling problem. I’m basically chandler from that one friends episode where monica needs an engagement photo. I can maybe hold an okay smile for about a second and a half before one corner starts moving and I look either depressed or upset, sometimes even both. Dorene has to constantly remind me to look happier and usually takes about six shots of the same photo so that maybe one of them will turn out okay. She’s created this new system where she counts down and I only look at her and smile when she says one so that I look more natural. It’s really quite the process but trust me it’s worth it. Luckily dorene has mastered the smile so we don’t spend that much time taking photos.)
So today I had decided that I wanted to see the pantheon in paris. I read that the front the pantheon was modeled after the one in rome which I saw this spring and the dome was modeled after the dome at st pauls cathedral which I saw a few weekends ago in london so I figured it was a must see for me. On the way there we ran into a friend from school and found out that he got in for free by showing the student visa in his passport. I didn’t even know that you had to pay to get in and I was dead set on going inside to visit all the famous graves so I was a bit bummed. Once we got to the pantheon we took pictures from the outside, of course and slowly made our way in.
I was pretty much convinced we were going to have to go pay but dorene said that she had a copy of her visa on her and that at least we should try. I never thought to take a copy of the visa part of my passport let alone carry it around everywhere I went; just having a copy of my passport with me at all times was an accomplishment. So basically when we got the to the ticket window I made dorene talk to the lady. Dorene attempted to explain, in french, that she was a french student and she showed the lady a copy of her passport, visa and student card. The lady tried speaking english back but dorene kept replying in french as if it would help us get in and thinking back, maybe it did. Dorene got her free ticket and then it was my turn. I was too nervous to even say a word because I knew she needed the visa and I didn’t have it with me. I just kept showing her my student card and passport until she finally gave up on me and asked dorene if I was in the same program as her. One simple yes from dorene and I got my free ticket too, yay! I made her pose near the ticket counter with a thumbs up.
Once we were inside we walked around a bit but all I wanted to do was find the crypt section, I was a little too excited to visit dead people.
A while later we made it down to the crypt section which was basically in the basement of the pantheon. There we saw rousseau’s crypt which I made dorene take a picture which because she had done a presentation about him.
We also saw voltaire’s crypt which was near by as well as the crypt of the architect who designed the pantheon. He died before construction was finished and they ended up changing his design it didn’t end up the way he had wanted it to. (I did my historical research before leaving the house so that I would know a thing or two about where we were going.) I feel for the guy, but obviously not enough to remember his name.
After walking through the first hallway I was determined to find marie curie, the first and so far only female to be buried there. My sister always used to do presentations about marie curie in high school so when I needed to do a project about a person in french class she suggested that I do marie curie. Since my 11th grade project I always got a little too excited and proud when I saw her name somewhere so when I found out that she was at the pantheon I had to go visit her.
Luckily I found her pretty quickly. She was in the same room as her husband pierre curie, right above him in fact. The rest of the room she was in was empty which means there is plenty of room for more famous french people to rest in peace along with her.
Dorene joked/was serious and told me to lie down on one of the empty spots so that she could take a picture. I couldn’t believe she actually proposed that idea so I asked her to lie down instead but even she couldn’t bring herself to fully lie down.
After saying hello to marie from both my sister and I, I set off to find a few more people I wanted to see before we left, okay well I guess technically I didn’t get to see them but you get the idea. I found victor hugo, emile zola and alexandre dumas (the writer of the three musketeers.)
Once we had visited the crypts I wanted to see we headed towards st michel near the notre dame. There I visited my favorite school supply/bookstore again and bought two french books for my future niece (I’m hoping she’ll be better at french than her aunt), two cool french pens and two little french notebooks in an attempt to make to-do list writing more fun for when I get back home. I guess I like buying things in two, well truly I like buying things in three and more, but my mom just might kill me.
I couldn’t resist taking a picture with the notre dame lit up at night, especially since it was my first time seeing it with a chirstmas tree outside.
On our way back to the metro dorene decided that she wanted to get a gyro from one of the million stands nearby. I didn’t like the gyro I had here last time so I was just going to have dinner at home but for some random reason I decided to order one too. We went to this new place and it was to die for. Seriously it was gryo heaven and I didn’t even know gyro heaven existed before. The guy who made my wrap was nice and I was able to tell him that I wanted extra sauce and extra ketchup on my sandwich, twice (I wanted to make sure he didn’t forget.) He made my perfect gyro and handed it over by saying “here you go princess” in french of course. I couldn’t help but smile.
It’s getting late and dorene is kicking me out of the room soon so I have to go but the gyro princess will be back tomorrow. Until then!
I'm already missing reading your blogs about Paris...
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