European Adventure Recap - The Pantheon (Interior Edition)

Sunday October 25, 2009

Paris, France

The Interior of the Pantheon is a series of intricately detailed columns and arches.

This is the interior of the large central dome, seen on the exterior.  It is encased in windows and separated by columns.  One single bright light in the very center of the dome shines.

If you look at the tops of the columns, you can see that they have what resembles nets hung just below the ceiling at the soffits.  From what we could tell, there were pieces of the ceiling falling off and these nets were a safety feature.

At the far end of the Pantheon was the altar. 

I searched and searched and couldn't figure out what exactly what the inscription above the altar means. 

On either side of the altar, there are very large statues...the pictures below show their size in comparison to the size of me and Shannon.

Another set of large statues

Shannon took this photo, standing under the large dome and looking towards the altar (that's me in all black in the center at the bottom of the photo).

"In 1851 physicist Léon Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the Earth by his experiment conducted in the Panthéon, by constructing the 67-meter...pendulum beneath the central dome."  (Source)

Along the walls are paintings depicting various scenes

40 Days of Water

Okay, so I'm not Catholic, but occasionally I do observe Lent.  Lent is a period of self-denial, reflection, prayer and remembrance that lasts 40 days, starting Ash Wednesday, which was yesterday, and ending on Easter.  The 40 days represent the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert fasting, praying and being tempted by the devil.  It's is a time of sacrifice and a time to remember all that Jesus went through to become the Ultimate Sacrifice, to die in our place, so that we may live eternally.

So, this year as I was thinking about different things I could give up for Lent, I remembered something I heard about last year.  It's called "40 Days of Water" and it's through an organization called Blood: Water Mission.  This is an organization that provides clean drinking water for people in Africa by building wells and water tanks.  Each year at Lent, they have one simple mission.  They ask people to drink nothing but water for those 40 days and keep track of what would have been spent on soda, coffee, etc... and donate that money for more clean water efforts in Africa at the end of the 40 days.

So, this has become my mission for the next 40 days.  Drinking only water will keep me aware of the sacrifice I'm making (giving up coffee isn't going to be easy!) and thus will help me to remember all that the Lord sacrificed for me.  And donating the money I would have spent anyway will be a small way to help someone in a country without clean drinking water live a longer, healthier life. 

Weigh-in Wednesday

I weighed-in yesterday, but work was so busy I didn't get to post....so weigh-in Wednesday is being posted today, a Thursday.

Well, all the weeks of not working out have caught back up to me.  I am unhappy to report that I am in the positive this week.  I am +1.2 for this week.  Boo.  I am still down overall though, so it's not too horrible.

Okay, so I need to get myself back in the gym. 

European Adventure Recap - The Pantheon (Exterior Edition)

Sunday October 25, 2009

Paris, France

The sign at the Pantheon, explaining some of its history (click to enlarge).

The Pantheon is a church / burial site in the Latin Quarter area of Paris.

"In 1744, King Louis XV vowed that...he would replace the ruined Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève with an edifice worthy of the patron saint of Paris."  And so, the Pantheon was built.  Construction started in 1758 and was completed in 1789.  The long construction time was due to financial troubles.

The Pantheon is a Neoclassical building, taking after the Pantheon in Rome. 

One distinct difference of the Pantheon in Paris versus the Pantheon in Rome is that the Paris version is topped with a dome.  The dome very reminiscent of St. Paul's Cathedral in London - shown in my previous post here (it's at the end of that post).

The Architect was Jaques-Germain Soufflot, who unfortunately passed away before the Pantheon was completed.

The portico of Corinthian columns on the front of the Pantheon

This is a view of the backside of the Pantheon from down the street.

Frugal Friday

So.....if you are an aivd reader of my blog (all 2 people) - maybe you've noticed that I haven't been very diligent in writing my Frugal Friday posts.  Um, yeah.  Basically I keep forgetting about it!  I think I am going to change it to being a monthly post instead of a weekly post.  This may help me keep up with it a little better!

European Adventure Recap - Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Sunday October 25, 2009

Paris, France

This is Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, a church in Paris.  It was "Built over a long period between 1492 and 1626."

The best translation I could figure out for "Saint-Étienne-du-Mont" is "Mount Saint Stephen" or "Saint Stephen's Mountain."  Étienne (pronounced "eh-tee-yen") is actually the French name for Stephen.

Since it was early on a Sunday morning, the church bell was ringing and people were entering the building for services.  If only we understood any French, we might have attended.

This is looking toward the left side of the church building, down the "Rue" (which means road or street).

This photo was taken from in front of the Pantheon, which sits adjacent to the church.  It clearly shows the awesome bell tower.

Looking up at the bell tower.

The bell tower at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont on the left and the Pantheon in the distance (the building with the dome)

This photo is the side of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.  Can you see the gargoyles that stick out from those upper vertical walls?  (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Weigh-in Wednesday

After working OT every day last week, plus all the snow (both of which meant I didn't go to the gym at all again!)....I'm happy, but surprised, to report that I am  -0.8 lbs for this week!  This makes my grand total   -4.8 lbs!!!

I don't have any specific tips this week, except just be consistent with making small changes, eating smaller portions and saying no when you really don't need to eat something!  Consistency is the key!  Don't give up!

Weigh-in Wednesday

Today's weigh-in was actually the same as last week.  So, I'm neither plus or minus for the week, but overall I am still at -4.0 lbs.  It's nice to maintain and not move back up on the scale, but I've got to kick it into high gear and get motivated to go to the gym to keep seeing results!

I admit I struggle with working out during the winter.  I hate the thought of being cold walking into the gym and having to get myself moving....and then I hate the thought of coming back out into the cold covered in sweat and feeling that instant chill.  I am very much looking forward to warmer weather so I can get back outside to get some exercise.

I'm trying to find ways to motivate myself to work out right now, but I am able to easily talk myself out of it every day!  You would think with "swimsuit weather" approaching, that it would be a motivator, but since I was on a bathing suit maybe one time last year, it's really not motivating me.  There's always the thought of fitting back into clothes that I haven't worn for a while and the feeling of disgust with myself that I go through most every morning when trying to find something to wear...but nope, these aren't motivating me towards the gym either. 

Give me some tips - what motivates you to work out?

European Adventure Recap - Arc de Triomphe

Saturday October 24, 2009

Paris, France

Our last stop of the night was the Arc de Triomphe (pronounced something like "ark dey tree-umph"...except with some phlegm/hacking in the process of saying it).  Jean Chalgrin designed it in 1806.  The Arc is 162 feet tall and 150 feet wide (just under half a football field tall and wide) with a depth of 72 feet.  It is "so colossal that...in 1919...Charles Godefroy flew his...biplane through it." 

The Arc sits in a roundabout just north of (and across the Seine River from) the Eiffel Tower.  Twelve different streets spill traffic into this roundabout.  The intersection where the Arc sits was originally called "Place de l'Étoile" meaning "Place of the Star" because all the roads came together there resembling a star.  But in 1970, the intersection was renamed "Place Charles de Gaulle" in honor of the late French President.

The traffic that goes around the Arc is absolutely crazy!  Here's a bus whizzing by - you have to be insane to try and cross this street.  It would be like your own real-life game of Frogger!

Here's another shot of the traffic in the roundabout....these people DO NOT slow down!

Of course we had to get a self-portrait too!

The safe way to get over to the Arc is to use the under-ground tunnel.

Once we were standing right next to it, we realized just how big the Arc is.  

If you click on the picture below, it will enlarge so you can see Shannon at the bottom!  She stands about 5'-3" so you can see how crazy big the Arc is.....and this picture doesn't even show the top!  (I love her face in the pic!)

Can you spot Shannon's shadow in this picture?  She's standing with her arms raised and waving.  There was a big light shinning on the Arc....so we had some fun with it.

The level of detail on all the buildings and monuments never ceased to amaze me.  To think of how people so long ago were able to accomplish building these massive structures is beyond me (and to think they did it without all our modern regulations, codes and OSHA!)

There are "four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc...'The Triumph of 1810 '...'Resistance'...'Peace'...and the most renowned of them all, 'Departure of the Volunteers of 1792' commonly called 'La Marseillaise'."  We photographed two of these sculptural groups (pictured below), but I'm honestly not sure which two they are.