It took us nearly an hour this evening (Wednesday) to find our way back to the charming little side street pictured above. Just when we had given up, there it was! Because every place was filled to overflowing with Wednesday night diners, we took a chance (and a table) at one of the restaurants with a posted menu that we couldn’t totally decipher.
But long before dinner, our day began with croissants, coffee and aggressive pigeons outside the boulangerie conveniently tucked beneath our hotel.
Our adventure of the day took place in the Catacombes de Paris, one of the more unusual (creepy), yet popular tourist attractions.
In the late eighteenth century, health problems were created by the city’s many overflowing cemeteries. Abandoned quarries, part of a labyrinth found 20 meters (65 feet) down and extending over 800 hectares (1,976 acres) under the city, offered the solution.
To solve the health issues, the decision was made to transfer the remains from most the Paris cemeteries to the unused, underground network of passages we now know as the Catacombes de Paris.
It is estimated that the remains of over 6 million people were unceremoniously deposited over the course of 2 years. Renovations began in 1810, when skulls and femurs were stacked to create the patterned walls we see in the cavern today.
Once back above ground, neither of us were totally sure how we felt about it.
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