As you can expect it was a lazy start to today, with nothing planned other than a visit to a Sunday market Jane had seen advertised somewhere. So after catching the Metro to the Marais area and having a coffee for starters, we walked around a lovely open air market, predominately fresh produce ( fruit, veg, fish, meat, fromage and wine ) with a bit of other stuff thrown in. A little reminiscent of Salamanca but without the craft. Then it was a gentle walk along the Port De Paris Arsenal canal, to the river bank and along there until we found a little caffe for lunch. Nothing special, just some vegetable soup with a bit of vino, and a noissette to kick start us again.
It was then off to find the Jardin De Luxembourg gardens in the Latin quarter, which is now a little upmarket, luckily no shops open on Sunday. We accidentally went past La Sorbonne University, started in 1253 and the prestigious public school Lycée Louis le Grand celebrating its 450th year before stumbling onto the Pantheon. It was commissioned by Louis XV and completed in 1789 as an Abbey but now a mausoleum housing many notary's including Hugo, Braille, and Marie Curie it is a stunning building. Even had an exhibition on about the architect, Soufflot, who had his hand in many buildings including Notre Dame. Really interesting and well worth the visit.
Onward to the gardens where we finally arrived to a find a jazz band in the rotunda, people relaxing everywhere, children with boats in the fountain and a lovely relaxed Sunday afternoon atmosphere, just beautiful. Sat and listened for a while before finally moseing along to a metro station to head back to the hotel and a relaxing vino in the room. Couldn't even be bothered going out for dinner so grabbed some chips and desserts from the supermarket across the road and had a quiet early night.
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