Paris, Day 22: Latin Quarter and Bateau Mouche Tour

Originally published on January 31, 2014, this blog post series is an undergraduate short-term study abroad trip in Paris, France in partnership with Salve Regina University and AIFS Abroad. The blog post may have been edited for clarity and updated with relevant travel information and links.

For the second to last day of class, each one of us had to write a paper and give a presentation on a historical place. Three monuments were presented in class—Monica chose Mont. St. Michel; Misael chose Chateau de Chantilly; Sara chose Versailles—but the rest of us presented at our sites located within the Latin Quarter.

We started with Kelly’s presentation at La Sorbonne, then moved on to St. Étienne-du-Mont with Linda, the Panthéon, and St. Sulpice with Jackie.

Montagne’s statue in front of La Sorbonne. If you look at his right foot, you’ll notice it’s quite worn–students touch his foot for good luck before exams.

La Sorbonne

We walked through Les Jardins des Tuileries and Le Palais du Luxembourg on the way to the other monuments to see La Fontaine de Medicis. It’s strange that this was one of the first places we went and we revisited it the last day of class…

St. Étienne-du-Mont

Fun fact: This door was featured in Woody Allen’s movie Midnight in Paris

Le Panthéon. The dome is currently undergoing a restoration process. Because of the lack of air circulation and the level of humidity inside, the dome and ceiling are starting to fall apart…

St. Sulpice

If you’ve seen The Da Vinci Code, chances are you’ve seen this copper line. On every summer solstice, the sun hits this line and it reflects light in the church.

We had our last excursion provided by AIFS in the afternoon: a river tour with Bateaux Mouches on the Seine. We had already walked past all of the sites over the past three weeks, but seeing everything from the river gave us a new perspective.