After studying the map, we headed out in search of the catacombes. A series of underground tunnels including the burial of thousands of Parisians from the 17 and 1800's.
We arrived at the catacombes at around 10:15am. The catacombes opened at 10am and already the line up was HUGE! We joined the back of the queue and waited and hour and a half to enter. These tunnels better be good...
Once inside it was 130 stairs down to the beginning of the first tunnel. 14 degrees Celsius with very low ceilings. Poor Chris.
There were many off shoots of tunnels as we followed the main pathway. Hundreds of tunnels are scattered beneath the city of Paris.
Our tour took us 45 mins and well beneath the heart of Paris.
We got to see a stairwell that lead below our set of tunnels, filled with water. There are pockets of water in the soil that make digging the tunnels perilous for the workers as tunnel collapses were highly common during construction.
We arrived at the underground cemetery, a very unnerving and sad place. Thousands of dead, dug up and buried here in the open. It's hard to tell what bones would have belong to who. The tunnels of the dead seem to go on for ages and it's not for the faint hearted. One kid with his family was clearly upset and had to be emergency exited from the tunnels.
83 stairs to the top. And when I say stairs, not a spacious stairwell like in Australia. It was a cramped and scary round-n-round experience. Very dizzy by the end.
Back on top of terra firmer and it was off to find some lunch. Not without the hand sanitizer first!
After lunch we got to test the train system, no mum we didn't kiss on the platform. Their trains are like busses. Very quiet with actual tyre's not metal like at home. And there no messing about getting on the train either. You get about 10 seconds to get on and when the buzzer sounds you'd better be on! 6 stops and we were back at our hotel. At around stop 3 a gentleman with a piano accordion got on, wished us all a pleasant trip and began to play. Very much like the guy on the train in china, think we forgot to mention him previously. He had a busking PA and was going from carriage to carriage singing.
Back at our hotel, I went in search of the hairdresser and Chris had a beer :) Chris's was probably easier to order but the haircut was a fun experience. She was trying to speak English and I was trying to speak French. Lots of laughing and hand gestures. While ordering his beer, Chris met a nice English man who told the staff to pour Chris a proper beer in French. They pour leaving the head and charge the same price. Chris now knows not to get ripped off.
Dinner was at the bistro in the hotel. The lady kept mocking our French, which is about three words, bonjour, Merci and oui. Again a lot of smiling and hand gestures.
Packed and early to bed as we were on the flight to Venice, leaving our hotel at 7:30am.
Adieu France!