A Duck Walks Into a Pub: Day 6: Paris - 2.5 Million Stories and Sunday as a Parisian

After such a late night induced by huge amounts of caffeine late at night, we decided to visit the catacombs underneath the streets of southern Paris. The 1.25 mile long tunnel carved out as a quarry over 300 years ago contains the bones of 2.5 million Parisians that were dug up in the 1700 and 1800's since the cemeteries were overflowing and the spread of disease was rampant. It was a very sombre experience to see femurs and skulls used to create the walls and designs of the tombs on either side of the path, while the rest was infilled with even more bones up to 20 feet back. Definitely something extraordinary underneath such an old city with so much history.

After such a sobering experience and the stale smell still in our nostrils, we naturally moved on to the next part of our Sunday agenda, eating. Since Paris is the birthplace of sidewalk cafes and they are literally on every street corner we decided to stop at one near the exit of the underground trail and try some omelets. Everything in Paris is expensive so you have to shop around before you decide on which place you are going to eat at. After conversing with our French waiter and getting a table, comes the hardest part of being in France, trying to order food. Sometimes the French can be nice as long as you try and at least use some of their "beautiful" language, but a lot of the time they act as if you are just a nuisance to them, and this guy was no exception.

After a very filling meal and just one espresso this time, we headed back to the Notre Dame cathedral to walk through the inside. The church was built over 200 years and was finished in the 1300s and is of course still standing today. Mike told us that the reason the cathedrals were built so tall was that back then they believed the taller you could build your church into the sky, the closer you would be to God and the heavens. All I can say is they did a pretty damn good job. Standing in the main aisle looking up 300 feet into vaulted arches made of solid stone and the sound of gothic music playing is something to be experienced by everyone.

On another island in the middle of the Seine we stopped to get some of the best ice cream in Paris according to Mike and once again we were not disappointed. Since we were a few days into our trip, we were starting to feel the soreness from nonstop walking for the last 6 days and stopped many times to just sit and enjoy the day as the French like to do. The first time was after our ice cream on the grounds behind the cathedral in a park lined with benches and filled with pigeons roaming around everywhere. Something must have been in the air that day because both the pigeons and the people across the city were acting as if no one was watching them at all. People were straddling each other on benches, in the grass, making out in the middle of streets and even saw a few male pigeon courting dances. I guess it really is the city of love.

Our last stop was the Palais du Luxembourg, a large palace and gardens (which seem to be everywhere over here) where we again just laid and relaxed in the sun enjoying our last day in Paris. On our way back to the metro stop we trolled through the Latin Quarter which contained the original Paris architecture before Napoleon came in and made all of the buildings look the same. It resembled the French Quarter in New Orleans, or I guess New Orleans resembles it, with narrow streets and lots of food shops. After a quick slice of pizza we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the evening sun from our balcony overlooking the city.

We picked up a few bottles of 2 euro champagne and had a few people over. However it started pouring and we then had to huddle underneath the much smaller covered section of our porch. Little did we know that a few more people got the message and soon our small get together turned in to half of the group, about 20 people visiting and joining the party. What can I say, everyone always wants to hang out with the people from Texas. It was a great way to end our 3 day trip to Paris and it was nice to get to talk to a few more people on the trip since everyone tends to stay in their little groups during the day.

Au revoir Paris,

Josh