Gardens, Bones, and Museums
We seem to be getting up later and later each day here. We have a wonderful little bakery right on the corner by our place and every morning we get brekky there. There is a really good pain suisse and croissant au amande. We went to the Luxembourg Gardens for our first stop and just walked around and took a few minutes to sit in the chairs and listen to books. We saw people playing tennis, teenagers shooting hoops, and young children at the park. There is a nice sized palace in this garden that provide a nice place to relax.
It was lunch time and we found a little cafe in a side street to have some toast with cheese and salmon on it. The next stop was the catacombs. Right outside the entrance we saw a huge demonstration for a labor union which had started a parade in the roundabout. For some reason the catacombs were closed for four hours and then once they reopened it took forever to get to the ticket counter (one reason was there were no computers and all receipts were being done by hand). To make it better it started to rain. I sat down and just listened to podcasts.
Once we got in though the catacombs were amazing. There are a decent way down under the city and huge tunnels. Due to collapses cause by excessive mining the government had to think of a way to provide additional support. Due to the overcapacity in the cemeteries it was decided to use human bones and skulls. There are huge rooms filled with thousands of skeletons piled to the ceiling. Some of the builders were creative and made heart designs or archways our of them. We saw moss caused by the light growing on some as well as crystals forming due to the moisture. Scriptures and other inscriptions were randomly situated throughout the tunnels as well. It was interesting and kind of creepy at the same time.
We next went to the Musee D’Orsay and looked at some more artwork. This was a much less intimidating museum than the Louvre and I was able to see many artists and their works while there for a little over an hour. Van Gogh - possibly my favorite - along with Monet and Degas were all represented. There were also these gigantic clock windows on the top floor everyone wanted to take pictures of (with them in it of course). It was fun to sit in these giant baseball glove-like couches and just people watch.
We had dinner at a fancy little cafe where we all had our first escargot. Enough garlic and pesto makes anything taste good. It was nice just relaxing late on a Thursday evening enjoying the cool air and living the Parisian life.
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