Le Pantheon, Notre Dame de Paris, Le Tour Eiffel
How's that sound for a travel itinerary? Youngest Son visited the Pantheon in Paris yesterday, the Eiffel Tower the day before, and today will visit Notre Dame. The Eiffel Tower was, of course, incredible. He asked me to look up the height of the Space Needle (605 feet) and compare it to the height of the Eiffel Tower (1063 feet). He said you are so high that everything below is so small it's difficult to make things out. He said from the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe is tiny, yet just the day before, as he stood at its base, he was amazed at how big the Arc was. Perspective.
The trip to the Pantheon was an optional trip, and one taken only by about a third of the class. He thought they were going on a shopping excursion, so didn't take his camera. Was he ever upset about that when he realized where they were going. There are some great pictures of the Pantheon on Wikipedia, so I got to see what it looks like. He was intrigued by the Foucault Pendulum and how it keeps time, as well as the murals on the walls. The Pantheon is where Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Emile Zola, Braille, and both Curies are buried, as well as many other notable Frenchmen. Madame Curie is the first, and thus far, only, woman buried there. You can only be buried in the Pantheon by Parliamentary decree. It has an interesting history, and is a really magnificent structure. He is really glad he went on this excursion.
Today, the entire group will visit Notre Dame. YS was surprised I knew as much about the cathedral as I do. He forgets I was an art major, which means taking a lot of art history, which means learning about architecture, which means learning about the great gothic cathedrals, of which Notre Dame is one. Not to mention, I read a lot, and who hasn't read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or at least seen the movie starring Charles Laughton? Obviously, YS hasn't. He asked me what the big deal was with flying buttresses. So I had to give him a small lesson on architecture, and the cathedrals in France wherein flying buttresses are employed (Chartres, Reims, Notre Dame to name a few). I think he'll get to visit Chartres, and maybe Reims too. Anyway, can't wait for his review of Notre Dame later today when we talk. He has a boatload of photos that he promises he will upload to Webshots this weekend. He said his classmates are dying for him to upload his photos because he has taken some really great photos of them all. He is a really good photographer (not just a mom saying that - his photo prof said he was "gifted"), and has a knack for capturing things from unique perspectives.
He gave his presentation to the class on The Bastille yesterday. He hates public speaking, so was dreading this presentation, but apparently, it went quite well. His next big project is a paper on Seurat, Chuck Close, and pointillism and divisionism during the art portion of the course in April. He is to be the expert for the class on that style and those artists, so he's got some reading to do. I happen to be a big fan of Seurat, so I sent him off with some books on the style and artist. He'll do just fine. The prof for the current section realized the workload he had been giving the kids was a lot heavier than he'd thought it would be (5 hours of reading a night, an hour journaling on what they'd read, and then presentations daily on which they had to journal), so he changed things a bit, making it a lot less daunting and freeing up time for the kids to go out and experience Paris. YS is very relieved, as are the other kids.
The Spouse bid his vacation for next year. The fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31, so that's the time period for which he has to bid vacation. So, he'll have the week of July 4th off, didn't get Thanksgiving week (he's 5th on the seniority list and 3 people had bid that week by the time it got to him, and 3 is the max that can be off at one time), got the 3 days after Christmas, and then the last two weeks in May 2008. He has another week to bid in the next round, then 8 individual days (the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because they fall during his vacation weeks). But with the last two weeks in May 2008, guess what my plans are? PARIS BABY! I'm going to plan a trip for us to France, maybe Scotland again too. He can bid the first week in June 2008 in next year's vacation bidding, so we'll have three weeks of vacation in a row, so we're definitely going to go to France. I have to start planning now. I can't wait!
Well, off to the salt mines. Adieu!
