Pardon my English.

Bonjour!

Ryan here...

France is a place full of history and many famous sites, which on a map look very close but when you walk to a landmark you realize it is not very close at all. We found that out when we walked to the Eiffel Tower the first night here. After that joyous walk to the Eiffel Tower, we decided to choose closer landmarks to see and save the other ones for the bus tour. The second day in Paris we visited Les Catacombes (The Catacombs of Paris). We were both interested in visiting the place voted as the most haunted place in Paris, well maybe it was just me. We walked to the catacombs and yet again realized how far away things truly are on the map. When we arrived in the area of the catacombs we noticed a line of people wrapping around a building. Quickly we found out that many others shared our enthusiasm of seeing the creepy catacombs. We met a nice family from Canada while waiting in line and that helped pass the time. When we finally got to the catacombs we walked down a long, spiral cement staircase. We started walking down the long dark, lightly light hallways of the catacombs. The ceiling was very low and at some spots you could look to your right or left and see bars similar to bars seen in prison or jails but see nothing but darkness beyond that. Whatever may have been lurking behind those bars would have been invisible to our eyes. Also, they would only let like four people in at a time so that you would be walking down these cool, dark walkways all by yourself. This helped make the place even more eerie. We walked for a long time until we reached the tomb of the catacombs. Above the entrance is a sign in French that says, "Stop, this is the Empire of the Dead." We continued on and saw skulls and femurs (thigh bones) placed artistically as walls of the catacombs. Above the skulls and femurs would be randomly placed smaller bones like radiuses or ulnas (forearm bones). The collection of skulls and bones in the catacombs is unbelievable; it is an almost endless amount. We walked for a long time with skulls and bones as the walls of our walkway. In addition to the creepy human remains, there was dripping water coming down from the ceilings of the catacombs. Eventually, we reached the end and walked up an extremely small spiral staircase that made me dizzy because you were turning to your left every step. When we reached the top we met a man that was checking everyones bags. He had to make sure people were not trying to steal any bones. He had a table that had three skulls and other smaller bones that people had rudely attempted to steal. The catacombs created an interesting adventure for our European trip.
The catacombs were created when France was running out of space to bury bodies in the cemeteries. France was expanding and needed to find a way to bury the dead. This made proper burials only available for rich people that could afford a coffin and burial space. Less fortunate people would be put in a coffin until there flesh would decay and then they would bring the bones to the catacombs. That is how the catacombs became what they are today, and in the 1830's the catacombs were open to the public.

This walkway looks much brighter with the cameras flash.

"Stop! This is the Empire of the Dead."

Today we went to the Louvre, and saw Leonardo Da Vinci's majestic painting the Mona Lisa. It was difficult for Allie to get a good picture because there was a mob of about 20 people deep blocking the picture. They were all trying to hoist up cameras above the heads of other people to get that perfect shot. Allie got a few great shots and got out of the sweaty smelling mob. We then walked around the Louvre and checked out the Egyptian exhibit and some of the sculptures. The Louvre was really busy and we were both pretty tired of crowds so we did not see as much of the Louvre as we may have liked but at least we saw the most important piece in the museum. After the Louvre, we got lunch and got onto a bus tour which brought us to the landmarks in Paris we did not want to walk too.

Tomorrow we will ride the bus around the city more and do a final day of sightseeing in Paris.

Au revoir!