Panthéon: Paris

"I see dead people." It's a line you could definitely get away with here in this fancy neo-Classical church, which functions mainly as a burial place for French VIPs. Enter with priority access, check out the canvas paintings illustrating the birth of Christianity, and visit the crypt! The Panthéon isn't as iconic as the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe, but it's a must-see in its own right. A neo-Classical church situated in the Latin Quarter and 5th arrondissement of Paris, from here, on the top of Montagne Sainte Geneviève, you'll get a pigeon's eye view over the whole city! In early life, the Panthéon was an abbey, built in commemoration of Saint Genevieve (the patron saint of Paris). But in the late 18th century, the Revolutionary government switched it from a church to a mausoleum. Inside there's a painting series of the life of the saint, and the epic story of Christianity's beginnings, as well as those of the French monarchy and a Foucault’s pendulum, demonstrating the Earth's rotation. Down below, the crypt is stocked full of tombs of famous French personalities, and info on their lives. Residents include Voltaire, Rousseau, Alexandre Dumas and Marie Curie.