69 Europe Part IX, Paris

First, let me say welcome to the new readers here *S*.

Before I get to Paris, I just wanted to let you all know that my baby is out of storage and home!

This picture was taken Friday afternoon (I took Friday off as it was going to be over 80 F and I just had to take her out). My wife and I took a ride, and this picture is taken at Satan's Kingdom, which I had posted about last November 13 and 14 of 2007. The day was perfect, and we took about a 25 mile drive in the Northwest corner of Connecticut.

Just thinking about it Mark.. I could have used this for your "yellow" theme! *LOL*

On to Paris:

The next morning after going out to dinner, we went to the Eiffel Tower.

The picture at right, was taken from the second level (I think there's 4) and it was so cloudy, that they weren't even letting people up to the top level. At the level we were at, there was a restaurant and gift shop though I wish the weather had cooperated more. Either way, it's a huge structure, and very impressive.

 

At left is a picture of the lovely Mrs. Dave under the Eiffel tower.

After leaving the tower, we traveled by bus throughout the city, finally being dropped off at an historical area, right near the photo below, which is one of the legs of The Louvre.

This building is absolutely gorgeous, and massive. My only regret was we never made it inside, as we had so much to do and so little time.

 

 

 

Of course, no trip to the Louvre is complete without seeing the glass pyramids (the ones mentioned in The DaVinci Code).

Not long after this, the sun was going down and we went back to the hotel for dinner and relaxing. Quite a few of us just walked around during the evening, popping in and out of little shops, just marveling at Paris at night.

 

The next morning we were on our own, and visited The Catacombs of Paris.

First, let me tell you that just finding the entrance was a task, though the concierge at the front desk of our hotel told us to take the tube, get off at a specific stop, and it was right there. Only thing was, we got off, looked around and couldn't find it. The building is very tiny, and the sign was so small you couldn't read it unless you were within about 50 feet of it. Once inside, I was wary of what we'd find, but we paid our fee and they told us to head down a spiral staircase.

Ok, this is one of those times in my life when I was completely taken aback. My wife and I began our downward spiral, me in front of her. Each step seemed to be carved out of stone and it just seemed like it kept going on forever. After 20 minutes of going down, I was beginning to wonder if I could make it back UP all these stairs! I'm telling you, I was really getting worried. After about 30 minutes, we reached the bottom, my fear still there.

Oh, don't think as soon as you get to the bottom of the "endless stairs to hell", no.. we had to walk what seemed like a half mile of twisty turny tunnels. Did I mention, that by this time, I was wondering if we should have waited for a tour guide? (there was actually 4 of us as a lady and her young son came with us). After about 3o more minutes, we saw the scene at right. (sorry for the blurry photos here)

Bones as far as the eye could see, both sides of the room.

To the left, is a small shrine to some of the people buried there. The bones are packed so tightly, it's hard to comprehend just how many people are down there.

Here's a link to a PDF file that has a map of the catecombs.
Once you see page 2, you'll see how far you have to walk to get from the entrance to the exit (Sortie).

It's estimated there are the bones of 6 million people down there.

After walking for a long, long time, we came to the exit and I was amazed that we only had to walk up about 20 steps to get out. The person at the exit told us that there was a very slight uphill to the whole thing, and we were actually at a lower elevation than the beginning.

That evening, my wife and I met up with my two friends from Paris on Montmartre, on the Northern part of Paris, up on a hill overlooking the city.

In the picture from left to right are my friends Hubert, Jean-Phillippe, me and my wife. We were eating outdoors at Chez Eugene's, my favorite restaurant in Paris (I've been there 3 times now). We had a fantastic dinner, and made plans to meet up the next day. Surrounding the outdoor square where we ate, were all kinds of portrait artists working. I have some pictures of them I'll post later after we visited again a few days later.

The last photo for today is of Sacre Coeur Basilica, which is on top of Montmartre. We had taken the tour before meeting up with our friends and it's just breathtaking.

I'm actually especially proud of this picture, as I  believe it's one of the finest pictures I've ever taken. The extremely funny thing is, about 5 seconds after I took this picture, they turned off the lights illuminating the outside!

Well, that's it for today.. I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!