Today we went to the Pantheon to watch the world spin.
Of course we had seen the world spin many times before, but this is the very first place in the world you could watch the world spin. I mean other than Foucault’s first model in his basement and the one in the observatory where he proved it to people. But this is the first place the public could watch the world spin. Which was totally worth taking the train all the way across town for.
You watch the world spin by hanging a heavy ball on a very long string and starting it swinging. So you need a very high roof.
Then the ball continues to swing in the same direction while the earth spins beneath it. We got there just before 4:30PM.
For some reason Matt didn’t like just sitting and staring at the spinning world, so we explored the rest of the building.
This is an exhibit on how the building was built. If you thought the dome outside didn’t match the dome inside, you’re right!
Then there were tombs of famous dead French people, like Marie Curie.
And Voltaire.
When we got back the earth had spun almost all the way to 5:00PM.
