It's been an interesting weekend and it's only Saturday evening. We started out Thursday night (and as anyone in college knows, your weekend starts on Thursday night) to an apartment on the other side of the city where we met up with exchange students from Wisconsin. We hung out there for a little and then took the metro to a disco where we got in free because it was international night! We had a blast singing and dancing and meeting other international students from all over.
Then we woke up the next morning and headed to the Louvre. It was impossible to make it through the whole thing in one day. Well maybe not impossible but if you were planning on it you need to eat a really hearty breakfast and put on some serious walking shoes. The Louvre is segmented into 3 parts, Sully, Denon, and Richelieu and within each section, there are 4 floors. In about 3 and 1/2 hours, we made it through 2 floors in Sully. There's a lot more that we need to see. So before we left, we went through the museum to see a couple of the main attractions. Now, before I went to the Louvre, everyone told me that the Mona Lisa was extremely small, far away, and hidden behind pains of glass. I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the famous painting that is was much larger than I expected! It was then that I had to remind myself, I'm in Paris, at the Louvre, looking at the famous Mona Lisa painting. It was quite a feeling. Then we went and found the giant statue of Ramses II, saw a real 1000s of years old mummy, and ended with the Venus de Milo. It was amazing. The building of the Louvre itself is amazing! The architecture, walls, columns, and archways are exquisite. Many of the ceilings had grand paintings on them complete with golden details around their edges. It was absolutely beautiful. Needless to say, we are going back a few more times to make sure we see everything.
Friday night we stayed in and watched Harry Potter, ate pizza, and each had an ice cream bar. We had a little taste of home and took the night off knowing that we'd be out the next day as well. So Saturday, today, we woke up and headed out for our dangerous voyage beneath the city...Les Catacombs. After walking through the entrance, you descend down 132 stairs in a twisting spiral staircase. The entrance made it very clear that this journey was not for the faint-hearted, and for good reason. They even had a defibrillator next to the entrance just in case! Very comforting. When we got to the bottom, we first read about when it was made by the romans, how it was used during the Revolution as a secret meeting place, and how it is the resting place of hundreds of thousands of bodies. We walked through many very tight, narrow, and low walkways that twisted and turned, 10 stories beneath the bustling city. If you are at all claustrophobic, I do not recommend going down. About halfway through, we came to an opening with an inscription that had been etched into the rock wall that read, "Stop! Here is the empire of death." If that didn't stop you, the sight certainly would. Bones upon bones were piled high on both sides, creating a clear walkway through the tunnel. Skulls were strategically placed within the piles of legs and arms to create patterns of crosses or arches. It literally took your breath away but in a creepy way. The most incredible aspect of the catacombs was how vast it was. The tunnels stretched on and on in different directions, filled with bones in areas blocked off to visitors. When we finally ascended the stairs back to the busy streets of Paris, I was incredibly thankful for the sunlight and the fresh air. We headed home a little later and we're about to make dinner now and then head out on our first real Parisian bar-crawl. It's funny to think that hours ago, I was inches from millions of bones. I'll be happy to think about my cooking pasta instead.
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