CATACOMBS

Arrete!  C'est ici l'empire de la mort

This is the phrase carved into the doorway that you pass under as you enter the part of Paris's vast underground tunnel network that houses the bones of 6 million Parisians.  It translates to "Stop!  Here is the empire of the dead".  You pass through (after some group photos courtesy of the friendly security guard), and the walls are lined with bones.  At that point, it's mostly tibias, punctuated with the occasional row of skulls.  The Catacombs, housed in a portion of Paris's sprawling underground quarry, are filled floor to ceiling with bones, excepting the space reserved for morbid warnings about death's proximity, and markers denoting the cemeteries where the bones were first put to rest.  The ceilings drip, and the gray clay of the floors get your shoes all dirty, but it's amazing, and fascinating, and absolutely worth the long long line.  Added bonus: in a land of no candy corn, it makes it feel like Halloween.

note: the Catacombs are not ideal for photo-taking

This castle was carved into the walls of the quarry.  The man who carved it died down here when the ceiling fell in.

A "very romantic spot" according to the guard.  If you can't see, the skulls were arranged to make a heart shape..

"At death, one leaves everything"

*selfie with the skull courtesy of Malika

THE LOUVRE AND THE BEST CHOCOLATE IN PARIS

Tomorrow I have my art history class, and in preparation, we had to (got to) go to the Louvre to look at a few paintings.  Luckily, the Louvre is directly on my way to school, so I left for this afternoon's class a few hours early, and stopped in.  The museum is enormous, and every corner you turn there's another piece that you've seen a million times in a weird yellowish tint on the internet, or in an art history class, but it's real, and it's amazing.  I need to go back to wander, but even making my way quickly through packs of museum tours led by umbrella-wielding guides, I was in awe.

But first, I stopped in a little chocolate place, that's also on my way to school, and which I've been wanting to go into (but trying not to) for weeks.  I left with a bar of dark chocolate that had whole almonds in it, and a little sample of dark chocolate shaped like a daisy.  

This little dog belonged to a homeless man sitting just across the sidewalk from a few people who were handing out flyers.  The dog was not a fan of the big pink person, and was barking loudly to alert everyone in the street.  

The pink thing tried to make friends, but eventually gave up, and the dog watched it walk away.  

Made it to the Louvre!  While I see it from the outside almost every day, this was my first time inside!

No arms, no problem.

Half in, half out, as I leave through the pyramid.  

I can't get enough of the book stalls on the Seine.  One day I'll be brave enough to go look up close, and maybe buy one.  

My chocolate bar didn't make it through french class.  But it was amazing, and easily the best chocolate I've had in Paris.  And maybe ever.  

p.s. Claudine has a new favorite show: Desperate Housewives.  

REUNITED IN PARIS

This weekend, on the brink of a crazy-busy week, two friends from Minnesota stopped by Paris.  Taylor came for the weekend from Denmark, and I got to play tour-guide for most of Sunday.  Luckily for Taylor, my street was hopping(for a Sunday), due to the antique fair that had taken over the upper part of the street.  Taking advantage of the open stores (unheard of) we got chocolate croissants and a baguette for our hike up the Butte Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur.  We finished the croissants before we hit the first of the gypsies, beginning to set up their "where's the white coin" tables, and took a break on the steps to take in the view.  And most of the baguette...  Luckily the rain, which was supposed to be coming down all day, held off.

After a quick tour of the church, during which I felt a little like a cow, ushered along, shoulder-to-shoulder, with the pack of tourists, it was back down the Butte, past the Gypsies (whose games were now in full swing), and back on the metro.  We walked around the Latin Quarter, did some window shopping, and played the tourists in front of Café de Flore (a Hemingway haunt) for a bit, then popped into another café for lunch.  I went for the french onion soup (soupe a l'oignon gratinée) and Taylor had the boeuf bourginon- a french specialty.  Both were accompanied by more baguette, of course. 

We then picked up some cokes, took a walk along the Seine, through the Tuilleries, and past the remains of Paris fashion week, on our way to catch Rachel at the Gare Saint Lazare.  She had stopped into Paris for her birthday weekend, and was on her way back to Rouen.  Coffees and an hour and a half later, I headed back home.    

LE 13eme

The 13th arrondissement is most commonly associated with the larger of Paris's two China towns, but for my Paris Readings class, our professor asked us to walk around a lesser known neighborhood, the Butte aux Cailles.  Due to poor navigation skills and a fear of whipping out my map, and thus making myself a target for purse-snatching, I ended up wandering around Chinatown for a half hour or so before asking a nice french lady for directions.  Walking back to where I was supposed to be took about another half hour, though it had only been one metro stop before the place I got off.  Nonetheless, I made it to the Butte aux Cailles, and it was like no neighborhood I've seen in Paris so far.  It had single family houses, and tree-lined streets.  Cars slowed down for people who got caught in the street when the light changed to don't-walk, and the air smelled like chestnuts.

Chez Nathalie, i.e. at Natalie's!!

I love these chestnuts that have started falling around Paris.  They have this wonderful smell that reminds me of Germany and the lanes lined by chestnut trees in Icking.  I've been filling my pockets as I walk around the city, and I have a stash at the bottom of my bag that's making it unnecessarily heavier.

 

The spiky chestnut shells

The photo didn't quite turn out, but this man in the back of a boulangerie is standing behind a huge tray of baguette dough that's all rolled out, and about to go in the oven.

This has to be a reference to Central Perk..

Goodnight, and happy almost-end of September from Mousse, Claudine's cat.