Yesterday was the first of several tourist days. We visited the Catacombs which are underground tunnels all throughout Paris that were originally quarries. There is only one section that is open to the public because people have gotten lost for days in the endless tunnels. During the late 1700′s the main cemetery was in the center of Paris, but it as well as smaller cemeteries were becoming increasing full due to the increase in population. With this came the problems of mass graves, improper burial and decomposing matter, because of this neighbors began suffering from disease. So the remains in the cemetery were moved to a section of the underground quarries discreetly during the night. So today the ossuary features bones and skulls “quilted” 3m high and 3m deep housing an estimated 6 million of the cities former residents. So it was a bit of a creepy and somber visit, next up Pere Lachaise cemetery for more excitement. Pere Lachaise cemetery is the largest cemetery in Paris and covers over 150 acres filled with graves from the 1200′s to present day. We saw Jim Morrison’s grave, which wasn’t that impressive, Moliere’s, Oscar Wilde’s, Edith Piaf’s and countless others. It was insane how many graves there were, they were stacked one after another, row after row, as far as you could see. After Pere Lachaise Claire and I stopped off in Belleville, basically Chinatown, in hopes of some good chinese but we ended up just getting a drink at a cafe. We literally rode the metro all the way across the city North to South and East to West as well as walking a ton so it was an exhausting day.
This morning we got up early and headed to the famous Paris flea market, marche aux puces in french. The Paris flea market at St. Ouen is known for it’s antiques. The flea market covers 15 acres with several different markets inside the one big one. I hadn’t really planned on buying anything since it’s mostly antiques and furniture but it was cool to go see what it was all about. There were some amazing pieces of furniture and some amazing vintage designer clothing, all in all a neat experience. After the flea market we decided to go to La Defense which is basically an office complex area with a bunch of cool looking office buildings and then there’s the Grand Arche which is this giant metal square, it’s so big that apparently Notre Dame Cathedral would fit inside. After La Defense we headed over near the forest of Blois de Boulogne and grabbed a picnic lunch from Monoprix. We headed off in the direction of the rose gardens and sat on a bench and ate. After lunch we were pretty much exhausted so we retired for the day at about 2pm. Since all our classes are finished except art and our Moliere final we have plenty of time for touristy stuff in the next two weeks.
