Catacombs and Parc de la Villette

Post date: 04-Sep-2009 10:19:32

On Sept 02, 2009, Colin and I took the Metro for the first time since we've been in Paris. It's way faster than the usual Paris trains that we have been taking. However, the windows and stations are just as vandalized as the train stations. We did see this one really nice work of art in one of the metro stations.

As we walked through the dark, moist catacombs, the gravel crunched beneath our feet and it sounded like we were tromping on human bones. We weren't directly but we partially were since the floor is covered in a white dust that is essentially the remains of the thousands upon thousands of bodies that are stacked up along the walls of the caves. Over time the bones deteriorate and the fine white dust becomes a powder on the floor. Most of the bones were washed in vinegar to preserve them. The bones were piled from 1599-1920 and were sorted by sex. Due to disease from improper burials in cemeteries it was decided that bodies would be moved underground. The bones are sorted by male and female and there are a few general tombstones displayed in front of the bodies. It would be sad if you knew someone who was buried in the Catacombs because you couldn't be sure which pile of bones the person is laying in. It was very surreal to think of all the bones as being real people at one time.

We got wet a few times from the condensation dripping from the ceiling of the caves. It's nice because even though the Catacombs are a tourist attraction there is no gift shop and they have not commercialized it. It's nice that the bones of the bodies of the people buried in the Catacombs and the Catacombs themselves have been treated with respect.

After the Catacombs, we went to Parc de la Villette for geocaching. We stopped into the Science Museum but we didn't see anything exciting to see that was worth the money. We walked by this cool geodome...

...a submarine, a garden of mirrors, over many bridges and through a cool kids park. There was a little fair with a bucket of ducks going around. They were plastic, but they were the best ducks that I have seen in Paris to buy. I can't believe that I haven't found any and we even went into a toy store today but the just weren't what I was looking for.

We had a nice wild rice, chicken, and green bean casserole for supper tonight (cooked by the family we are staying with) and of course we finished the meal with Normandy fromage.

You can view our other 138 pictures of the bones here.