CATACOMBS

July 25, 2014

This morning everyone got up bright and early and I didn't even have to nag them.  We ate our breakfast, picked up our clean laundry, packed  up some water bottles and headed off to the line for the entrance for the Paris Catacombs.  Isabella felt that the Catacombs would be too spooky for her, so she stayed home and read her book while the rest of us went to stand in line.  

The line wasn't too bad.  We got there an hour before opening and we had to wait about 2 hours before we were admitted.  Grandpa and GG stood in line while the boys played on some grass, and then the boys stood in line while GG and Grandpa went to sit in the shade.  We alternated every 15 minutes until the line began to move.

The geologic history of the catacombs:

At one time, 45 million years ago, all of Paris was covered by a shallow, warm sea. Over the millenia sediment collected on the bottom of the sea, forming limestone.  Eons later the Romans began to quarry this limestone to use in buildings, and over time creating a maze of tunnels underneath the surface.  The stones used to build Notre Dame, the Louvre and the city ramparts were quarried here. 

As Paris grew cemeteries began to fill up and become unhealthy and some of the catacomb tunnels began to collapse, so King Louis XVI ordered that the catacombs be shored up and used to bury the bones of the deceased.  The remains from many cemeteries were transferred to this site, starting in 1786-1859.   This transfer left more land for development and established a sacred place for the remains.

As we entered the catacombs we went through several chambers of storyboards telling the history of the catacombs and how they were restored and how the transfer of remains was carried out.  Then we went along the path, deeper and deeper, until we were underneath the tunnel used for the Metro.  The walls of the tunnels are lined with bones, stacked 8 feet high, in a design that alternates femurs, skulls and tibias.  Each area has a plaque telling which cemetery these bones came from and often there were other plaques which included poetry, bible quotations and typical headstone inscriptions. 

Some of the famous people buried here include Robespierre, painter Simon Vouet, architect Claude Perrault, Jules Mansart, people killed during the French Revolution and millions of others.  It is estimated that there are over 6 million bodies buried here.

We came out in a side street, not far from the entrance, and we made our way back home for lunch and to pick up Isabella.  The catacombs really are not too spooky, but it is amazing to think of the vast number of people whose remains are just under the ground we walk on every day.

After lunch we took the metro over to visit the Museum of the Middle Ages.  The boys were hoping for weapons and torture implements, but it turned out to be art.  Most of the art is religious because it was very rare for artists to paint anything from everyday life.  That is one of the reasons the Impressionists were so unusual, they did paint pictures of everyday life and scenes of gardens and fields.

So we saw many altar backdrops, sculptures, reliquaries, paintings and stained glass of scenes from the Bible.  There was one dramatic stained glass of a red-faced devil with cloven hooves riding a horse, chasing a woman.  There were also several huge tapestries telling the story of "The Lady and the Unicorn" and a long ivory tusk, purported to be a Unicorn horn.

There were also examples of mosaics and pillars from Roman buildings.

After the museum we walked over to the Luxembourg Gardens, with displays of beautiful and colorful flowers.  GG and Grandpa sat in the shade and told us kids that now was the time to run and jump and play.  Isabella and Bryce took a walk around the fountain and pond and Ryan and Brendan rolled around on the grass until the guard shooed them off.  The kids are at a point where they need a break from each other.

After awhile we decided to go home, so Grandpa, Isabella and Bryce took the Metro and GG, Ryan and Brendan walked home.  GG did the evening's shopping, then pizza for dinner, laundry collection, showers and bed.

Our time in Paris is just about over, so tomorrow we have no specific plan.  We thought we might walk around the shopping area and try to find a creperie for lunch and a patisserie to pick up some Napoleon Squares.We really wanted to go see the lights on the Eiffel Tower at night, but it does not get dark until 10pm and we need to be in bed by then.