Day 23

Today we set out for a part of Paris that was definitely unlike anything we had seen before… the catacombs. We head from our nearby metro directly to the catacombs and were ecstatic to find that the line today (as we had tried for it a while ago) was almost non-existent. We waited for about ten minutes before taking the winding narrow stairs sixty feet below ground, running below the sewers and metro system. The first room in the catacombs gave a detailed description about the history of them (they began as a small quarry) and the many famous Parisians that had gone to visit them so long ago. We continued through the underground tunnels for a while, making sure our heads didn’t bump the ceiling until we arrived at a larger room that gave more detailed information about the catacombs, and warned us (as we hadn’t seen a bone yet, just creepy locked barred doors and rocks with their quarry identification numbers carved on them) to ‘Stop, this is the empire of death.’ Really the sign above the entrance said "ARRÊTE - C'EST ICI L'EMPIRE DE LA MORT" but we continued onward to be greeted by piles and piles of bones, which were made into nice tunnel walls by the stacking of many femurs and skulls. The catacombs were a blast; there were a few “designs” of hearts and crosses made out of skulls, with a few neat different ways that they were all piled up. Towards the end, in a larger room with a huge domed ceiling, an employee of the catacombs shined a light onto the ceiling which had 1875 carved into it, which left us wondering what else we had passed and simply couldn’t see.

We came back to the land of the living in a part of Paris we had yet to visit, and stopped at a Monoprix (the real version of our local Monop’) to pick up a coke, croissant, and a sugar donut for breakfast/lunch. We went down to le grand epicerie (Bon Marche’s gourmet/supermarket) for some more mini macaroons, the rest of our ratatouille ingredients, and for Steph to get a tote bag. We walked back down towards the apartment to stop by Gilbert Joseph, the multiple story, two building bookstore. We continued back to the apartment, and relaxed with a new kind of baguette (l’ancienne), which we had with our second fantastic dinner of ratatouille.

-Kyle