The first portion was mostly a mazelike walk. the catacombs were the result initially of mining for stone to use in construction of all sorts of important cathedrals and monuments. When the cities graveyards became to odoriferous they began exhuming and relocating the bodies into the vacant catacombs.
The result of such an amalgamation of deaths trophies was thousands upon thousands of bones. Some strewn pellmell but mostly arranged into to artful configurations. You stop to admire a heart made of skulls and femurs and then do a double take once the math start filtering throughyour thoughts. What we saw were the retaining wall portions, tibias neatly stacked, all in the ame direction, forming an excellent barricade in which to throw piles of ribs and vertebra.
Below is an example of a what remains after a tunnel colapses, ie a very high ceiling.
We exited the subterranean darkness several km from where we entered and immediately re-charged on crepes. We also stumbled across a fairly quaint french market complete with fresh meat and fish as well as veggies.
These guys never stood a chance!
Urchin!
Our first glimpse of Notre Dame. There were people everywhere.
A pharaoh. He was a terrible statue. and the wind kept blowing his floppy costume around.
Notre Dame is beautiful. I don't know if it necessarily the most beautiful one of the year, but impressive.
The beautiful stained glass and arced ceilings inside.
a plant relief near the exit.
The Gang.
Which way do you guys wanna go?
I'm not sure what building this is but it was time for a break.
The tower of Isengard.
Background models.
The Louvre!
We are professional. For sure.
This was a disaster but some nice woman had the patience to wait for several attempts. Impressive though right?
Miller,
Chris took this one. grrrrrreat face.
Ooo lala, i took the picture a little inappropriately, i think she is technically reaching more for her shoulder than her nipple.
Nap time, in Les Champs Elysee....
Pigeons!
That had some lovely flowers up.
The sky was this color all weekend! we totally lucked out.
The Obelisk of Luxor is a 3300 year old relic that used to guard the entrance to the Amon temple in Luxor (been there i think). The Viceroy of Egypt gifted it to the and Place de la Concorde one of the bloody centers of the French Revolution where 1300 people were beheaded.
The ARc de Triomph, in memory of those who fought for france during the Napoleonic wars.
La Tour Eiffel! Of course the tallest building in Paris and erected in 1889 for the world fair.
Some street performers. Originally thought to be Techtronic dancers but proved wrong. Look it up, it's an education.
A flower underneath the Tour.
The segway patrol. spotted near the tower.
The Sacré-Cœur Basilica, me and rachel. Beautiful and busy. Like most things in this town.....
Ah la Patrie!
TINTIN!
The Patheon. "Aux Grands Hommes La Patrie Reconaissante"
Housing such men(people) as Voltair (below), Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie.
Finally the weekend wasn't all fun and games (for some people i mean, it was for me). About 7 interns acctually signed up to run the Paris Marathon. Everyone finished, and couldn't climb stairs the next day. Below are Chris and Bruce post run just high on life, can't you tell?
