After my grammar class, Danielle and I headed over to find the catacombs! They were not what I expected at all. It was a pretty good experience, though. I also found out why CIEE gave us all student cards that say our majors are art history. We now get in every museum for free! Yay!
So the catacombs were so far under the ground, below the metro and sewer system! We had to walk down tons of stairs to get there...the French really like spiral, narrow staircases. We first got a little history of the catacombs and walked through narrow, dark passage ways. It was straight out of a horror movie, but luckily my blackberry has a state of the art flashlight! Phew. When we finally arrived to the door that stated: "Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ('Halt! This is the Empire of Death'), I didn't expect there to be skulls and bones ALL OVER the place...I walked through the door and turned right back around. I needed to brace myself. There were more than 6 million bodies. It was unbelievable! By after the 5th room of the skulls and bones, it barely phased me. Besides the security guard asking Danielle and I for our phone numbers, nothing too interesting happened. Don't worry, I told him we didn't have French phones. Guess they are right when they say French men are aggressive...
After the catacombs, we took the metro over to the Panthéon. This is a gorgeous building, but because of the rain, we didn't get to see much of the outside. Besides housing Foucault's pendulum, it also is a burial ground for some of the most famous French people; Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie. It was a quick visit, but still pretty cool. I would have liked to walk around more outside, but the weather hasn't been in our favor lately! I think Friday and Saturday should be pretty decent, though and a possible snow shower on Sunday!?! I'd love to see Paris covered in snow!
Un malheur ne vient jamais seul!
No comments:
Post a Comment