A Couple More Days in France

Your Head Bones Connected to Somebody Else's Bone...

It's been a couple of days. I'll start with Tuesday. We'd wanted to do Versailles, since it was closed Monday, but the weather had (accurately) predicted rain again, so we decided not to chance it. Instead, we hopped on the RER (one of the metro lines) and headed to Denfert-Rochereau to see the catacombs. Coming out of the station, it was interesting to see how different, in only a few stops, things could be. The catacombs are in Paris, but it's a much less busy part of the city, more residential. After wandering a bit, we found the catacombs and the impressively (depressingly) long line we'd have to wait in to get into them. We stood in a line that (incredibly) slowly moved its way around the block and into the ancient tombs- it only took about 17 hrs. to get there- and paid our 7 euro to make our way down to see the dead.

The hallways to the catacombs are deep underground- the French, besides having perfected the baguette, not working and making out in public, have also perfected the incredibly long winding staircase- and the wind around, old bricks over dirt floors. We walked and walked until we found the grisly scene: bones, simply stacked, about 5-6 ft. tall creating thick walls in many rooms. Apparently, Parisian churches originally had their own cemeteries, but as the city expanded and disease and space became a problem, they moved all of those dead to the quarries and eventually underground to these catacombs. However, the bones weren't laid out by person, because there were so many bodies, but were stacked, according to type of bone, creating high heavy walls with skulls sitting in the center. It was a dark part of the city's history that wasn't as gruesome as it seemed at first, but gave a very tangible link to the people who had once lived here and their customs regarding burial. Unfortunately, that appreciation was cut short by a couple of annoying tourist who kept taking inappropriate pictures (a pile of human remains is not the right place to take the thumbs-up-with-something-famous-in-the-background picture) and constantly touching the bones. I was happy these tourists were not American.

We spent the rest of the day walking and then sitting in a cafe, per usual Paris, talking, waiting for Casey to come home from work. When she did, we went to the grocery store and picked up stuff for dinner. Casey made a rather delicious leek quiche and we sat around and ate and played cards for a while. Afterward, we walked over to what might possibly have been the noisiest bar on the face of the planet. The three of us stayed for a couple hours just doing more catching up and discussing this and that. It's been so nice to get to simply talk with family and realize more and more how cool these people are.


Jewish Falafel in France, It's Good

On Wednesdays, since Casey lives in Paris, she doesn't have to work. Clearly. Sean and I started the day by going to a pastry shop and getting some amazing tarts. We then decided that we hadn't done enough walking, so our goal for the day became making (I think) making the American soldiers' walk at Bataan seem like an after-dinner constitutional. We first walked over to Rue Rivoli, a typically commercial Parisian street, because I was hoping to find some light pants for my trip to Cairo (jeans might suck). However, after two strikes on account of they don't do length/width of pants, but S,M,L,XL and I'm too short for French pants, we gave up on that. We walked around the Mare, the gay district of Paris, which houses some streets that are quintessential Paris (small shops, ivy on the buildings, cobblestone streets) and just walked and walked. At one point, we stopped at a park and sat for a good long while. Since no one works here, everyone is able to sit at the park and, apparently, practically make a new French person right in front of you. One couple sat and made out at a bench opposite us for a good 40 minutes. It got intense. I almost felt obligated to inform them that I shouldn't be watching, as I haven't paid the money for a Cinemax subscription, but instead we just averted our attention.

We had an early dinner at a falafel place in the Jewish section of town that Casey has been raving about this whole time. She was right. It was a tiny little restaurant and the food was simple and quick, but it was pretty amazing. We headed back, stomachs full and happy. After a stop at Shakespeare & Co., the famous bookstore, we grabbed another coffee at a cafe and made a pit stop back at the apartment. Oh, and I bought a really great hat on the way home to keep the angry Egyptian sun (Ra?) off my face.

Last night, we met up with Mina, an old family friend of Casey's who grew up in Southern France, amongst other places, and is doing an internship in Paris. We hadn't met before, but I'd heard so much about her from Casey, Paul and Jill that it was nice to finally be introduced. Mina brought a friend, Alice (sp.) who brought a friend whose name escapes me now, both of whom just wanted the opportunity to speak English with native speakers with American accents. We all sat around and talked, sometimes awkwardly, due to the language barrier, and had a good time just explaining what we all do in our lives and our new French connection.

Finally, last night, Sean and I made our way to the Eiffel Tower. With wine and cheese in our bag and baguette in hand we boarded the RER, only to have it stop two stops later and make us all get off. We were told by some other passengers the next train would come in 20 minutes. No explanation was given as to why we had to get off the original train. If it made sense, it wouldn't be France. We decided to walk it. It took us about 25 minutes, but we made it to the tower, a brightly-lighted, simply amazing structure. Sure, everyone knows what the tower looks like, but the size in person is just awe-inspiring. We crossed the Seine and walked up the stairs of Trocadero for a good view. We sat on a ledge, opened our wine, dipped our baguette into cheese and watched as the tower sparkled, as it does for 10 minutes on every hour at night. We sat for a long time, just eating and drinking and discussing how awesome we are. In just over a year, we've now seen Dublin, Doonbeg (the town of our ancestors), hiked through Killarney National Forest, seen countless other small Irish towns and cities, the Eiffel Tower, Champs d'Lysees, Arch de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Mediterranean, drank great coffee, eaten great cheese and bread, and done so many other things most people don't get to do in a lifetime. This travel idea of ours hasn't been too shabby.

This morning Casey woke me up to say goodbye on her way to work. It has been amazing to get to spend time with her again and catch up- though it seems as though time hasn't passed when you see family. It's the morning of my last day and I only have a couple of hours before I need to start packing and heading to the airport. I'm gonna go take a shower.