Old Crumbly People

After a long sight-seeing hiatus, thanks to the demands of our respective educational endeavors, we were finally able to have a stupendous outing, this time to the Catacombs! I had only found out about this place a few days before and was very excited about seeing it. The Catacombs are an underground ossuary in old mining tunnels under Paris and are said to house upwards of 6 million skeletons that were disinterred from crowded Paris cemeteries over the centuries. What we saw is only a small portion of the underground system of Paris, much of which is unaccessible to the public.

At the entrance we were met with the warning, "The ossuary tour could make a strong impression on children and people of a nervous disposition." We weren't scared because we love this sort of thing, but we understood why it could be upsetting to some. To enter this section of the catacombs one must descend down a long spiral staircase, about as wide as the one we used to go up and down the dome at Sacre Coeur. By the time we got to the bottom I was so dizzy I was having to lean against the wall so that I didn't fall down the stairs.

Then we found ourselves in a long, very dark corridor only about 6x6 feet in width and height that seemed to go on forever. The whole trek is supposed to be 2.7 kilometers long. We wondered aloud how many claustrophobic people completely lose their shit down there. There were lamps on the wall at regular intervals but even with those it was difficult to see and even harder to take pictures.

As we neared the ossuary, we found that people had carved commemorative sculptures out of the rock.

Continuing on, we passed by a gated-off spiral staircase leading down to a blue well. We saw a few more along the way, and later on in the journey water also began to drip from the ceiling. We were just hoping it wasn't sewage.

Suddenly, the narrow tunnel opened into a large arched hall. Charlie did two handstands here, both of which I failed to capture on video or film. Alas.

Finally, we found ourselves at the entrance to the ossuary. 

A sign over the door read, "Stop, this is the empire of Death."

Beyond the door lay the bone-lined walls that the ossuary is famous for. You won't find any wholly composed skeletons here, but rather stacks of carefully patterned body parts.

Skulls peek out from a mosaic of leg bones.

Atop the orderly stacks were scatterings of other parts, namely stray skull caps and other un-stackable elements such as pelvis bones.

Here a skull is nestled among another's skull cap and a couple of scapulae.

Not all of the skulls in the patterned areas were facing out. Some of them faced inward, down or up. 

There were a variety of patterns too. Most of the time the skulls just formed a horizontal line midway through the stack of leg bones. In other places (which were all too dark to photograph well), one could also see crosses, squares, and other formations.

Charlie provides us with with a reference as to the height of the bone stacks.

Marie makes friends.

Along the way there were several stone placards and other decorations or commemorations, some resembling head stones, while others took the form of stone altars, small and large.

"Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede Pauperum tabernas Regumque turres"

Roughy, "Pale death knocks indiscriminately at the doors of the cottages of paupers and the palaces of kings."

Keg o' bones

Other faves:

At the exit a sign reads, "Non metuit mortem qui scit contemnere vitam."

"He who has learnt to despise life fears not death."

On the way out there was a wall with a bunch of graffiti on it. I don't care if people have been doing it since the 18th century; it's pure jackassery. Also, as we went through the catacombs we noticed several recesses where skulls had obviously been removed by thieves.

We also caught a glimpse of the old mining excavation:

This is on the ceiling.

Then we had to climb "83" steps out of the catacombs. These steps, however, were twice the size of normal ones, so it was more like taking 166 steps two at a time. When we got to the top, I noticed there was a defibrillator on the wall and was thankful to still be breathing.

There was also a skull sitting on a countertop, an obvious confiscation from a recent looter.  Sigh...

The end of the catacombs spits you out into a different area that we were unfamiliar with so we just meandered until we found what looked like a main thoroughfare. We also found a kebab joint and had a  flavorful, cheap and filling lunch (It was only €8.80 for two sandwiches with French fries).

Pre-kebab

After lunch Charlie impressed me with his French skills as he chatted with the friendly man at the counter about cuisine. That man had a spectacular mustache.

Well, folks, I honestly don't know when I'll be able to update again. Grad school is in full swing and I am already loaded down with work and reading. It's great though. I have the sense that I am in the right place at the right time. It feels great to have taken such a large risk and have the certainty that it is exactly what I should have done. My classes are challenging and the subject matter is perfect for me. My opportunities to learn and grow professionally seem to be in a state of constant multiplication. I feel like my vocabulary and my world view expand every day. There is also the added benefit of living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Every walk around the block or trip to the grocery store is something to marvel at. I discover new things all the time. Sometimes it feels like I live in the center of the universe, where all the world (or at least all of Europe) is converging. I'm even unsure of what to take pictures of anymore because the whole city feels like a monument.

This is a great place to do great things and you all should come visit.