Wednesday, July 6, 2011
@ 8:53 PM
Ever heard of the Les Carriers des Paris? Better known as Paris Catacombs, they are a labryth of tunnels that lie kilometers under Paris. Back in the day they were just quarries, but in 1786 they were used as mass burial sites as cemetries were riddled with diseases. And so, being the morbid people we are, we knew we had to see them.
Before heading down there was a sign that read:
"...could make a strong impression on children and people of a nervous disposition"
That was the moment I realised what we were getting into. We paid our entry fee and made our way down, down, down the winding stair case. Reaching the bottom was a total anticlimax, i expected to hit a massive monster mash of bones everywhere. But instead we walked and walked and walked until a doorway which read:
"Arrête! Cest ici l'empire de la mort"
Or for those who do not speak French: Stop! This is the empire of death.
We walked through. AND BAM.
Neatly stacked in ammaculate order were millions upon millions of human bones. Each lined up and looking scarily similar to one another. It was breath-taking in its most depressing form. I generally like how different Sarah and my reactions were.. I was freaked out, but not by the millions of desceased humans lying before me, but the water that dripped onto you whilst you made your way through the tunnels..So gross...And Sarah came out with the classsic line of: 'I'm Hungry' when we were halfway through.
On a slightly happier note, we were couch surfing in Paris with two other pairs- so yes, that means that there was 7 of us sharing an apartment- it was a bit crazy!!! We had an English guy, and American, two Latvian's, us Aussie sheilas and our Chillian host- it was quite the cultural monster mash!!! One night we all went out to town and we found an AUSTRALIAN BAR! So we had a pie and a Fosters pint as we sat around a barrel and were surrounded by Geelong football jerseys in picture frames and street signs from exotic locations such as 'Bourke Street'. It's been TWO MONTHS since we've left- we are starting to get nice and patriotic to our homeland!!!
