FranceSpainEnglandIceland2015: Last full day in Paris

On our last full day in Paris, we took a bus to the Ile de la Cite where we saw the city's oldest public clock (1334) followed by the outside of Notre Dame. Due to the prohibitive length of the line out front, we decided to return later to go inside. After walking around to the gardens behind the cathedral, we saw the deportation memorial; following this, we walked over to the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter. Among its host of notable French dead is Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Marie Curie, and Louis Braille. It also houses the Foucault Pendulum which allowed the scientist of the same name to prove that the earth rotates. Due to the pendulum's absence because of renovations and the entry fee, we did not go in but satisfied ourselves with merely gazing upon its exterior. Next, we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg, where we lunched on sandwiches and watched children play with small sailboats in the central pool. On our way back to Notre Dame we stopped by St. Sulpice where we saw the mystical gnomen housed there. Upon arriving at Notre Dame, we saw that the line was even longer than when we had left. Undeterred, we entered the line and eventually found ourselves in its vaulted interior. After seeing the famous Rose window (the one with the original medieval glass) we saw that we were just in time for the 6:30 mass and decided to hang around. Following the service, we stayed for the 8:00 organ recital which started late at 8:10. On our way back, we stopped by the Pompidou center, a hideous composition of exterior pipes and tubing. Thus ended our last full day in Paris, when little did we know that the dissonance foreshadowed by the Pompidou center would soon be upon us. (NS)