We kept the schedule pretty light today. After a leisurely breakfast we headed to a shop that had been "on my list". The French keep the craziest hours in some of their shops. This one 11:00 - 1:00 and 2:30 - 7:30.
One of our top goals today was to take the Metro back to St. Chapelle and procure tickets for tonight's classical concert in the upper chapel. I forgot to mention yesterday that there is crazy airport like security to get into St. Chapelle. You have to stand in a long line to go through metal detectors before joining the line to buy tickets for the chapel. Today I got daring and walked to the front of the line and showed the attendant a copy of the concert listing and told him that I was here to buy tickets. Amazingly he let me cut in front of about 50 people. After a quick stop at the metal detectors I ran to the ticket booth. Closed! Ticket booth hours 10:30 - 1:00 and 2:30 - 6:00, it was 1:05... I was super frustrated, but there was nothing I could do, so I made my way back to the street to join the family.
Our main attraction today was the Neoclassical Pantheon. This was originally a church that Louis XV built in honour of Sainte Genevieve after he had recovered from a serious illness. The work was carried out from 1764 - 1790. During the Revolution the church was turned into a Pantheon, a place for the tombs of the "good and the great of France" to rest. There is a fantastic crypt that runs the entire area under the building. Some of the famous tombs include: Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.
The back of the Pantheon.
The front entrance of the Pantheon
Some exterior shots.
The inside of the Pantheon was stunning. The following are several interior shots.
The Dome of the Pantheon is Iron-Framed and has extraordinary detail.
Hanging from the middle of the Dome is a pendulum. The original pendulum, known as Foucault's Pendulum was installed in the Pantheon in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. It has been removed and reinstalled a few times over the years for religious reasons, but finally seems to have a permanent home. The current ball was installed in 1995 and keeps remarkable time.
Bronwyn and I striking a pose.
The visit to the Pantheon took quite awhile and by the time we left it was time for our now typical late lunch (3:30). The plan was to have a nice lunch then head to St. Chapelle to see if we could finally nab some tickets for the concert.
When we arrived at St. Chapelle we had to stand in line for about 25 minutes before we could go through security and make our way to the ticket booth. It was a very chilly 25 minutes, however, after all was said and done, success! Our persistence had paid off and we held four tickets for the show, and given that we were some of the first people there we had our pick of seats.
On the play card: Vivaldi's Four Seasons and the Bach Violin Concertos - BWV 1041
Tuning the harpsichord before the performance.
Violin Soloist Frederic Moreau who trained under the legendary Yehudi Menuhin.
The show was fantastic. The setting could not have been any better. The only downside was that the 762 year old venue doesn't have any heat, so the room felt like a meat locker, which made the performance by the artists that much more spectacular.
