Paris Day 4: Paris Catacombs

Eric really wanted to tour the catacombs, and our friends Melissa and Alex said that it was fun and interesting, so we decided to go.

I can't remember if I've told you much about the Paris Metro - well it's amazing and quite easy to use. The best part is that it costs 1.40 euro to go anywhere in the city. You can transfer as many times as you want, and it doesn't cost extra. The only time you pay again is if you leave one station and then re-enter at another. So it wasn't too difficult to get to the catacombs, even though we had to make a couple of transfers.

Once we left the final Metro station, the entrance to the catacombs was literally right across the street - it can't have been any easier to find. (Hmmm - I wonder if there is a reason for that!) Well, Rick Steve's recommended that you bring a little flashlight with you, so we did.

You start off climbing 60 feet below ground, down narrow winding stairs (see there are those stairs again!) and then walk for several minutes through underground tunnels. There are no bones at this point, just interesting rock walls - interesting to see how the catacombs were formed, etc. I kept joking that we were in a cheesey Sci-Fi movie, because I just knew there was some kind of cave critter waiting to get ahold of us (especially since we were pretty much alone.) Groups kept passing us by. (They didn't have flashlights, so they weren't fascinated by the rock walls like we were.)

Well, here's where the story gets creepy and I swear that I am not making any of this up, or exaggerating! Just before you enter the area with the bones, there is a sign that says something to the effect of, You are now entering the empire of the dead (but it was in French, so I don't remember the exact translation). Silly us, poked fun at this sign, and even posed for "Oooh I'm so scared" pictures. At the exact same moment that we entered the tombs, BOTH Eric's and my flashlights went out, at the exact same time. Eric's even sparked as it went out. Mine just died. We tried for several minutes to get them to work, but couldn't. So we stepped back out the way we had come, and fiddled with the flashlights. Eric's was definitely dead - the bulb burnt out, and mine took several minutes to come back on. After that, all joking was put aside and we were quite reverent for the rest of the tour.

What I didn't realize is that the bones are right there as you enter, and I found this a bit disconcerting. But then I decided to tackle the experience from a scientific point of view, and ended up finding it interesting to see how the different skulls ended up. Some were glittering and shiny, some were discolored, some had odd holes in them. It was all very fascinating and I would recommend the tour, even to the semi-sqeamish.