Paris: Cluny Museum and the Pantheon

Replete withfood, I headed out walk to Cluny Museum a.k.a. National Museum of the Middle Ages. I’ve mentioned many times that I am not a fan of museums but heck, I am in Paris! Time to do some art appreciation. I bought the 4-day Paris Museum Pass for €50. You can get the pass at the airport and some shops mentioned in their website.

How to use the Paris Museum Pass: Fill-out the name and “valid from” fields at the back of the pass. The date is the first day that you will use the pass. You will show your pass every time you enter a museum covered by the pass. It is important to plan the schedule of your museum visits. Some museums are open on some days of the month so it might be cheaper to get a 2-day pass if you visit some museums on their free days. For an art enthusiast, this is a good choice – you can just go back to the museum as you fancy.

Everyone is doing their art appreciation nods.

Stained glass.

Freaky headless sculptures.

I think I studied about this type of art in one of my humanities class back in college. But of course, I didn’t appreciate it back then.

Medieval art, I suppose

The intricate ceiling of the chapel.

You could look up at that ceiling while praying.

Exquisite. This would make a nice journal. 

It really looks nice up close.

After an hour or so exploring Medieval art, I walked to the Pantheon. The popular sights are quite near each other so you’ll survive by walking - as long as you read the map correctly. Besides, it was quite cold. I took my time walking. After all the planning, I was in Paris!

The Pantheon was included in the Paris Museum Pass so I did not need to pay for the entrance fee.

The interior:

Let us not forget the ceiling of the dome.

 

A huge chunk of my time was eaten up watching the Foucault’s Pendulum. You’ve probably seen a lot of this is museums. It is a apparatus to demonstrate the rotation of the earth – memories of elementary science.  

A video about the pendulum

I’ve probably seen lots of versions of these when I was a kid, but this one had a pendulum of 28kg. Pretty gigantic for a science apparatus.

At the back, there are stairs leading down to the Crypt. Aside from being a home to various art pieces, the Pantheon is also the home of the great French men like Voltaire, Braille and Rosseau.

I like the torch lights

A nice resting place for them.

Some Pantheon models. Reminds me of my math model projects in high school

Of course, I needed a solo picture taken. A dad was traveling around Europe with his son, took this picture.

With a group of students at the back.

I spent around two hours in the Pantheon. 30 minutes of those was spent discreetly napping in the benches. Yes, I really fell asleep - for 30 minutes. I was just so tired from all the walking and I woke up quite early that it all caught up with me, in the Pantheon.

 

I haven't had my picture taken with the exterior so I was looking for a "candidate" to take my picture. Then came a mob of students from the nearby University of Paris who were running. They were giving off flyers for a party. I was invited daw. Hahahaha!

Maybe it would be fun to study in Paris...

I eventually got my solo shot.

The purple camera case in the Pantheon in Paris

Too many pictures already. This only covers 4 hours of my first afternoon in Paris. Another post for the late afternoon and evening of my first day.