11 May Paris Advetnure

random thoughts:
-some paris metro trains have rubber tires, some are on metal wheels
-coke costs 1.7 euro in a machine/vendor and 4 euro at a cafe
-Geoff- LOL!!!

We started the day by going to the catacombs under the city. They were put there when Paris was expanding and that point was outside the city limits. Now the location is in the southern part of the city. Underground, down 80 large steps you will find the bones of millions of people from various locations/gravesites. They are neatly arranged: femurs crisscross, skulls line the top, and on the sides you walk by (think hallway between rooms except the rooms are literally thick piles of bones) are decorated in the skulls and bones in patterns like hearts and crosses. The longer I was down there, the more I wanted out. It was interesting at first, but it becomes creepy after the first few rooms. \there are acres and acres of bones.

We had lunch in a cafe a 5 or 10 minute walk away. Nobody there spoke english and ordering was difficult. I ended up with a plate of Parisian ham and Ethan had a toasted sandwich with a sunny side up egg on top.

Took the metro to Notre Dame. I finally climbed it! There are about 370 stairs up to the very top, but it was a really neat view. \it was also good to see because we didn't go to the Pompidou or Sacred Heart so I got to point them out to Ethan.

From there we walked down the Champ Elysses and ended up eating dinner at Quick. Quick is a french fast food chain- burgers, drinks (with ICE!), fries. It was easy enough to order without knowing French.

The Louvre is open late on Fridays, so we went there. Since I had been before Ethan and I split up. We stayed there for about 2 and a half hours. I was able to get pretty close (10 ft) to the Mona Lisa this time. Last time there was a huge blob ofpeople infront of her so I saw it from 40 ft away. I am still not sure what makes the painting so special. I spent a while wandering around items from Mesopotamia and Iran since those are areas I do not know much about. Most other museums skip over them. We took photos of the pyramids at the Louvre at night, saw the Eiffel Tower from a far and went back to the hostel.

I was so exhausted and my legs were very very store after climbing up 450 stairs (and then down).