It was raining when we woke this morning and the forecast was for showers most of the day so we decided on the Pantheon today. This needed a trip on the underground then a short walk so we set off. We are starting to get the hang of the Metro now so it was easy to make our way to the Pantheon .
We got out at Luxembourg station and climbed the stairs to road level and found ourselves at the gates to Luxembourg gardens, these are truly magnificent so we detoured from our planned path and spent some time exploring the gardens as the rain slowly started to get worse .
Umbrellas to the fore we made our way to the Pantheon spying an Asian food shop on the way "we might eat lunch there" we all concurred .
The Pantheon was originally built by Louis X11V to glorify god in thanks for returning him to health after a serious illness. The Basilica was changed to a place to honor the dead after the revolution
Some of those whose remains lay here include" Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas of the three Musketeers fame. We saw the resting place of Marie Curie and her husband Pierre. All the remains are housed in the crypt which is under the Basilica
The interior walls of the Pantheon are decorated with huge paintings of scenes from throughout French history and religion . And there are statues commemorating the Revolution
The roof and dome are supported on huge fluted columns and the ceiling is also highly decorated but renovations are underway and not all the ceilings were visible.
As we left the rain was getting much heavier and we made our way back to the Asian food shop where we enjoyed a great lunch with fresh veggies something that we we have all been missing.
In the afternoon we stayed undercover visiting a large shopping complex in the new part of Paris attached to an underground station called "la defense Grand arche" the area is dotted with buildings of many shapes and are very modern with glass being the prominent theme .
More later.
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