L'EMPIRE DE LA MORT

"Arrete! C'est ici l'empire de la mort!" (Stop! Here lies the Empire of Death!")

these are the words that inscribe the rock just as you are about to enter the catacombs of paris. yesterday we had another perfect day (part III?) and i'm going to tell you all about it as i listen to christmas music because it makes a whole bunch of dead bones less creepy. you should try it sometime.

we started our day by going to shakespeare and company, which more on that later cause it's pretty much one of my favorite spots in paris. (it's a bookstore)

after meeting up with our friends, we went to the catacombs. the line was super line. like we waited in line for two hours outside. we decided to stand in line because a)we all wanted to go in to the catacombs and we were going to have to do it sometime, and b) well actually that was pretty much the only reason.

of course yesterday decided to be the coldest day that we have had in paris so far, so it was a bit chilly (say that in a british accent please) but two hours with good friends in paris is never a bad time. lots of  jokes and laughing.

when we finally got in to the catacombs (which we got in to for free because we have art history student id cards holla!) you go down a spirally staircase, and it feels like it is never going to end! and you get really dizzy, but i guess you've gotta get down to the underground somehow. (one hundred thirty steps to be exact)

the catacombs started out as mines for limestone, known as "paris stone" (fun fact: notre dame was built with this rock) and then later it was used for other things that i can't quite remember, but then they needed more space so they got rid of the cemeteries and put all the dead bones in these mines under the city. basically the bones of over six million people are below you all the time. kinda creepy. creepy cool.

so you go down and you learn the history and you go through all these roads and tunnels and it's a little bit scary. we had the boy go first so he could do his manly duty and protect us, and lexi and i were last and basically we had to hold hands so we wouldn't be as scared because we looked behind us and it's just this man who is by himself walking behind us and we were so terrified we were going to get murdered but then he turned out to be taking the tour too, so it was okay.

before you enter in to the catacombs there is a warning! it's the empire of death! turn back! and then rows and rows of bones. they have quotes that say where the bones come from, but they also have quotes from things that are like "everyone dies" and other creepy things like that that are so creepy they are almost funny.

^^^pre-catacombs. "oh yay let's go see a bunch of bones. oh yay it will be so fun. oh yay." (ok it was so fun and cool, just a little scary at the beginning)

^^^all the stairs, one hundred and thirty down, eighty-three up^^^

the underground tunnels before you get in to the catacombs 

"therefore all passes from the earth. mind, beauty, grace, talent; short like a fleeting flower, blown by the slightest breeze"

^^^"where is death? always coming or going, it is barely here before it is already gone."^^^

"the boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?" -edgar allan poe

if you ever have the chance to go to the catacombs when you are in paris, i highly recommend it!