European Adventure Recap - Univ Paris II Pantheon Assas

Sunday October 25, 2009

Paris, France

This building sits across from the Pantheon in Paris.  It is the "Univ Paris II Pantheon Assas" or Pantheon-Assas Paris II University.  It is essentially a break-off of the University of Paris, with this campus being located at "Pantheon-Assas" (near the Pantheon and on Assas Street).  It is primarily a Law School, but offers other majors as well.

Weigh-in Wednesday

So in the midst of getting things unpacked from the big move, I failed to actually weigh-in last Wednesday.

So, I weighed in this week and to my surprise and delight, I am.......-2.2 lbs. !!!!!!!  This brings my total weight-loss to..-6.2 lbs !!!

Here's some of what's worked for me:

-I'm still continuing to not eat sweets (except the one weekend I went to visit my college roomie who is a Pastry Chef - how could I not eat sweets visiting her??).

-I am also still not drinking carbonated beverages, and because I am doing 40 Days of Water, I have had nothing but water for the last 30 days or so.

-I have started adding in some small workouts here and there.  My house is a total disaster of moving boxes and there's a ton of stuff to do, but I bought some workout DVD's and I live near a park, so I try to squeeze in something every day or two.  Burning a few calories is better than not burning any!

I moved!

This past Saturday was Moving Day!  I sadly didn't take as many pictures as I hoped to, simply because I didn't really think about it, but here's the few I did take.

Arriving at my new house, we started unloading the truck.  Props to Wade the engineer and his faithful assistant Andrew for getting everything in the truck with room to spare!  (They are the two in the truck in this first picture).

Dana helps my Dad with the twin sleigh bed (scored at an auction for $12 and then painted).

Andrew, Wade and Josh pass an antique trunk my grandparents gave me off to Seth....still wondering how Seth managed to carry that all by himself?

All my Happy Helpers (minus my cousin Jamie, who helped on the load-in and also minus my parents (oops) and my dad's best friend, Mike). From left to right: Brandon, Dana, Pete, Shannon, Wade, Liz, Andrew, Josh, Kori, Seth and me.

European Adventure Recap - The Pantheon (Drawings & Model Edition)

Sunday October 25, 2009

Paris, France

This is my last post on the Paris Pantheon - moving on to another topic next (still in Paris though).  I may end up doing European Recaps right up until the one year anniversary of when we left!

The Pantheon had several old drawings displayed.  I can't even begin to think about drawing something to this magnitude by hand.  I am so spoiled to get to draw on a computer where I can erase, move and stretch things at the click of a button!  Here are a couple of the drawings:

This is an enlarged section of the dome.

Also housed here was this scaled model of the Pantheon.

Parts of the model were cut away to show the different levels on the inside.

Weigh-in Wednesday

This week I am back down just a tad at   - .4 lbs.  I was telling my mom the other day that I feel like I am at a Peninsula and can't get past it.  haha!  She said - you mean Plateau?  Yes, that is what I meant!  Peninsula or Plateau - I just need to kick things into high gear and get past it.

Sold!

I closed on my house last week!  This week I'm getting the carpets cleaned.  Next week I hope to finish cleaning and maybe paint just a bit.  Then I'll be moving in.  Can't Wait!!!

Weigh-in Wednesday

Well I'm sure those that read my blog on a regular basis have noticed a marked absence of posts lately.  Life has been extremely busy and then for the last 4-5 days, I've been fighting off a head cold.  All that to say, I did weigh-in last week and yesterday, I was just either too busy or too sick to post.

So without further adue, last week I was  - .8 lbs.  And this week I was  +.8 lbs.

So bascially, in the last two weeks, I have come out even.  Which makes my overall total not as low as it was, but still down as a whole at  -3.6 lbs.

I move into my new house in about a week and it's within walking distance to one of my favorite parks, so mark my word - the scale WILL start to go back in the negative direction!!

European Adventure Recap - The Pantheon (Crypt Edition)

Sunday October 25, 2009

Paris, France

The Pantheon's lower level is a maze of Crypts.  It sounds rather creepy, and to some extent it was, but it was also fairly fascinating. 

"The inscription above the entrance [to the Pantheon (shown here - the 4th picture down on my previous post)] reads AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE ("For great men the grateful Nation")." Source. This burial site is a place on which France puts great emphasis of honor and respect - dedicated to those who have greatly infulenced the history of France.

The spiral staircase leading down to the Crypts.

This shot is looking straight down the middle of the stairwell from the top.

And this one is looking straight up the stairwell from the bottom.

Doesn't it look Dungeon-esque?

I was quite impressed with the interior of the Crypts - I expected something more primitive I think.

There are several notable people entombed in the Pantheon Crypts.  One of the most famous is Voltaire, a philosopher.

There's a statue in front of his tomb.  I assume it's Voltaire, although it doesn't really look like the picture of him on the above sign (not enough hair).

Hallway after hallway, the Crypts seemed never-ending.

This is what a typical door into one of the Crypt rooms looked like.

The Crypts rooms were very stark, some had windows, others didn't.

Another notable person that's buried at the Pantheon (and the only woman with such an honor) is Marie Curie, renowned physicist and chemist.

Marie's grave is adorned with a few flowers.  Her husband is entombed in the same room.

The hotel where we stayed in Paris was located on Rue Monge (Monge Street).  We assume that the street was named after this man - Gaspard Monge who rests at the Pantheon as well.  He was a "French mathematician and inventor of descriptive geometry".

Also buried here is Victor Hugo, whose "best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (known in English also as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)".

More hallways show drawings and pictures of the Pantheon from the past (more on this is the next post).