Visit to the Pantheon

Since Paul and I are "Amazing Race" fans, we wanted to check out the Pantheon, featured in leg 3 of season one.  Ben and I thought it might be less busy than many other sights on a July Sunday afternoon, it offered a good view of the city from the Dome, and it had painting and sculpture related to the city's history. So off we went, letting the boys take turns navigating the Metro, which was a fun challenge for them.

As we approached the Pantheon, Ben and I came to a sudden halt when we saw the entrance to an ancient Roman arena, the Arenas de Lutece.  This surprising find proved interesting for all of us.  While Ben and I marveled at the history of the site, Paul and Bryan had fun climbing the many steps, exploring the hidden cubbies, and scrambling up the walls to find "thrones" from which to pretend to be Roman rulers giving the "yea" or "nay" sign to the fighters.

Then on to the Pantheon, the size of which just took my breath away.

We walked up 200+ steps to get up to the exterior of the dome where we had a 360 degree view of the city.  There were helpful signs so we could identify major monuments.  

Later we had a late lunch at a cafe which featured beer.  Ben advised me to order this one, which, it turned out, had a funny label.