Today Garance and I went out to the Catacombs. When we first decided that I was going to come visit her, one of the first things I asked was if we could go to the catacombs. I really love creepy stuff. The crypt in Florence was one of my favorite things, and I wanted to see some ghosts. Garance got me all hyped up, telling me stories about how one of her mom's friends started to feel oppressed in the catacombs and had to leave, only to find out that they were under a mental asylum.
I don't know if they were inscribed somewhere or what; I never found them, but on everything for the catacombs was written "memento mori". Translated: "Remember that you will die". 18th century Paris was not even remotely screwing around.
Also I'm a huge horror movie junkie, and one of my favorites is As Above, So Below, a psychological horror movie that takes place when a group sneaks into the catacombs and gets lost, then freaky stuff starts happening. I have the poster above my bed at school.
Fun fact! The catacombs are huge. It's been called "The world's largest grave" and there are over six million people's remains down there. I can't find exactly how big it is, but I know the huge part we see on the tour is only a tiny fraction of the network of graves. If people slip away from the path, it's not hard to get lost. A guard once was missing for eleven years down here before his body was discovered.
I really like creepy stuff, okay?
So, after about an hour and a half of waiting in line (we usually tried to skip lines, but this was on my must-see list) we got in and went down.
You can't read it, but there's an inscription above where I'm standing, separating the main part of the catacombs from the graves. In French, it reads "Stop: you are entering the kingdom of the dead"
And then: skulls. I was no prepared for the amount of bones here. For ages we walked, and the walls were all made of bones. Everything was bones.
It was crazy. This goes on for miles, with walls and pillars and crosses all made out of bones. It's insane. Six million people down here. Imagine building those walls with skulls.
Anyway, we emerged again, bought some cheesy tourist stuff, ate a little lunch, and Garance took me to the Sainte-Chapelle, or the "holy chapel" in English. When you first go in, it's a little unassuming. A cool church, yeah, but after living in Italy, you get a pretty good number of "cool churches" under your belt.
Part of it was walled off because they were doing a restoration of some of the stained glass. So, a cool church, yeah, and then you go upstairs.
WOAH. It was impossible to take pictures capturing this. It was just amazing. It felt like being in a dream, surrounded by this shifting colorful light. All of the scenes on the stained glass were a different book from the bible per window, with the area right behind the chapel being the passion of the christ. It was breathtaking. My favorite place in Paris, hands down. I never wanted to leave. Garance says it's magical to be in here when the sun hits it just right.
Then we went to Notre Dame, inside this time. It was pretty crowded and hard to get a real sense of awe. In Italy churches are really cool because everyone's just used to them. You can go inside and it's just all quiet and there's a real sense of calm. Notre Dame was a little too touristy for my taste, but then again, I am a tourist. Either way, it was cool, and I did enjoy it.
This is the angle of the front entrance from the Disney movie.
On the way back we walked by a bakery where they make those life-ruining cakes I mentioned earlier and we watched the guy make one.
We also stopped at this strange little alternative shop where Garance buys her hair dye. Then we finally went back, watched a little TV, and had a dying party.
