Well, why not, I say, on a recent sunny day. The huge roman senate style building on the hill in the Latin Quarter had yet to be explored. Despite the heavy construction and restoration work on the facade, it's worth a look around.
It used to be a grand church, but was repurposed and is now a grand tomb for the more famous thinkers and leaders of France.
Inside, it's a big, light and airy room, with lots of murals and paintings depicting a rather romanticized version of French history.
While the stairs up to the dome is not as option as the dome is closed for renovation work right now (it is slowly collapsing in on itself, which kind of means the whole structure is a bit of a mess), your only other option is to go down, to the crypt.
I spied a rather interesting painting of Joan...
She dropped her spindle!
That angel should know better than to sneak up on her like that.
Oh, and this is where the original Foucault pendulum was demonstrated...
But alas, no more.
Across the street is an ornate little church- Saint Etienne du Mont. I had barely thrown it a glance before, but decided to have a peek.
It was lovely.
There was a huge chapel tomb and reliquary devoted to St. Genevieve.
Sorry about the blur, but that's totally a piece of human bone in there. I'm always fascinated by these morbid bits of leftover saints, and I seek them out whenever possible. I feel a bit like Norman Bates.
I'm glad I found it: it was completely silent in there, and had some really beautiful details and stained glass throughout.
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