Then we walked down a short spiral staircase to the crypt. It's filled with dozens of famous French citizens, including some extremely famous ones that I actually recognized. We visited Rousseau, Hugo, Voltaire, Marat, Mirabeau, Braille, Dumas, Zola, various Carnots...
I was highly anticipating visiting the tomb of Marie Curie. Although I can't claim I've always been conscious that she's an inspiration to me, her brilliance and success as a scientist, especially in an era when females were indisputably rare in the scientific sphere, certainly make her inspiring material. Even to someone who doesn't quite aspire to dual Nobels...
So I had a few moments of reflection and solemnity while Linda the electrical engineer waited patiently. I even managed to discreetly deposit the little daisy-flower I had picked outside the dorms this morning. Well done, Marie and Pierre Curie. I deeply appreciate you and your work.
But it turned out that I should have brought another flower. Imagine my surprise when a leisurely stroll down a corridor of slightly-less-famous crypts suddenly brought me face-to-tomb with one of the creators of possibly the most beautiful, elegant, and powerful formalism in all of physics: Joseph Louis Lagrange, of the eponymous Lagrangian mechanics. So Linda had to wait for another moment to run its course.
And all that barely brings us to noon. We spent an hour or so wandering near the Panthéon, up and down the distinctive Paris streets. I was able to locate the old location of Ecole Polytechnique, the workplace of most students in this program, including Linda. And on a whim we followed the signs pointing us to the Arènes de Lutèce, which Wikipedia now tells me is one of the most important Roman ruin sites in Paris. Cool.
Then we made our way to a large botanical garden, where we wandered amongst the lovely flowers for quite a while. To put the finishing touch on the afternoon, we stumbled across an Amorino gelato shop on our way back to the RER stop, and I ate some delicious chocolate and cookie-butter gelato. Yum.
After all the walking we had done, I needed a nap. But by 6:30 pm or so I was ready to have another adventure, so I went off to finally see Trocadero. Well, mostly I wound up seeing the Eiffel Tower. Trocadero is across the Seine from the tower and provides a spectacular view.
Then it was time to do something brave. I walked to the base of the tower, stood in line for a while, bought myself a ticket, and started climbing the stairs. My goal was the first observation deck, where the legs of the tower meet. It looks pretty unremarkable in the picture above, doesn't it?
Over the weeks that I've spent here, I've faced many experiences that worried me at least initially. Some things seemed unpleasant but turned out to be not bad at all - like rhubarb jam and speaking French to merchants. Other things really were difficult in the beginning but became manageable with a bit of practice - like independently navigating the public transportation system. But. I really am afraid of heights. Certainly I've made progress with that fear over the past few years, but every time I face it and push further, it's a big deal. So climbing nearly 200 feet of safe but not-seeming-very-enclosed stairs took some courage. I very nearly turned back about two-thirds of the way up, and was shaking and audibly encouraging myself by the time I made it to the observation deck, but make it I did. Congratulations, me.
Things weren't so bad on the deck, as long as I didn't look straight down from the edge, so I walked around and took several pictures as proof that I had managed it. There's a little complex of buildings: a restaurant and souvenir shop, and I don't know what else. Although my ticket would have allowed me to climb to the second stage, I didn't feel guilty at all for heading back down to ground level instead. My mission had been accomplished.
And that was my satisfying day. Tomorrow I plan to go with Drew and Margaret to camp out at the Champs-Elysées in the hopes of watching the Tour de France finish. We're lucky to be in Paris at this time of year!
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