We’ve covered a lot of territory these last couple of days. Today we decided to do something a little different and go someplace that’s not exactly on the Paris tourist map – The Catacombs. We heard about this place from a program we watched on the Travel Channel called UNDERGROUND WORLDS.
We left our hotel and braved the RER trains. This was our first experience on the underground transit system here. Paris has three major transit systems – buses (which we took back from the Eiffel Tower), RER trains, and the Metro. We bought a Paris Visite pass that gives us free access to any of them for the time we are in the city. We found our train just up the street on Blvd. St Michel next to the Jardin de Luxembourg. It was a short trip – only two stops – to the Denfert-Rochereau section of Paris. As we exited the station, we saw a small group of people outside the entrance to the Catacombs.
We waited only a few minutes before paying our 14 Euros for entry. We walked through a small door and almost immediately started descending a small spiral staircase – 180 steps down to the tunnels. As one writer put it,
Far below the city streets of Paris, in the quiet, damp darkness, seven million Parisians lie motionless. Their skeletons – long since dis-interred from the churchyard graves their survivors left them in – are neatly stacked and aligned to form the wall of nearly one kilometer of walking passage. Welcome to the Denfert-Rochereau Ossuary – The Empire of the Dead.
As we entered the tunnel, you could hear and feel the gravel crunched under our feet. It was dark, damp, and just a little unnerving. These catacombs were established in 1786 by the Lt. General of Police. Millions of bones were moved here in the 1700 and 1800’s to make room for the living.
I’m going to respectfully post a few of the images that Cindy captured. As we walked through these small tunnels, it was disturbing to be this close to so many dead people. And, once again, it is difficult to capture with any emotion or realism what this experience is like.
Once we finished walking through the tunnels, we climbed some 80 steps to street level and exited in an alley several blocks away from our entrance. We walked up the street toward Blvd. St. Michel taking in the beauty of the buildings and the boulevard. We stopped for a croissant (how can you pass those up in Paris?) and continued on our way.
Our timing in Europe has been interesting. Just a week ago, Spain was protesting the price of fuel. And only a few days ago, the taxis and buses in Paris were on strike also protesting the price of fuel. They are paying more than $10/gallon here in Europe and it’s wrecking their economy just as it is ours in America.
As we walked, we saw something unusual – at least for us. It was a service station right there on the sidewalk…literally, ON the sidewalk.
After snapping this picture, we walked on. As we made it to the intersection of Blvd. Denfert Rochereau and Blvd. St. Michel, we noticed another park…and we realized this is the other side of Jardin de Luxembourg. It was worthy of this picture.
After resting in our hotel, it was time to find dinner. I should note that it’s difficult to guess at the time of day here. It doesn’t get dark until after 10pm which can really mess with your body clock!
We ate at a French burger chain called QUICK. I had a Long Bacon and Cindy had a Poulet Sandwich. Mine was more like a bacon-cheese burger with some strange sauce on it. We have no idea what Cindy’s sandwich was but we thought it was supposed to be chicken! They also gave us mayo for our fries. We thought they misunderstood us at first because we asked for ketchup…then we noticed everyone was dipping their fries in mayo AND ketchup. We didn’t try it.
After dinner, we walked through the Latin Quarter. Lots of shops, clubs, food places, and CREPES! We couldn’t resist and ordered a caramel crepe. It was amazing…but, then again, it’s Paris.
We walked back toward the hotel and saw the signs for Place St. Sulpice. This is just a block from our hotel but we hadn’t made it that side yet. The public square of this church played a crucial role in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. It was constructed between 1645 and 1780. The church is so big that Napoleon hosted 1,200 here in a banquet after his Egyptian campaign. It also has a 7,000-pipe organ dating back to 1776. This is just one of the amazing pictures that Cindy took. There are many more on our Flickr page so check them out.
