Walking Among the Dead

When you pick what you want to see and do in a location that you are visiting, normally you go by what others have done.  You visit all of that major sites and then do your own thing.  Many people say do this or do that, have you seen this, have you eaten here; but, when do you go somewhere that no one really thinks about going.

I plan trips and site on for the history and maybe just a little bit for the picture opportunities, but not for what others have done or will be doing.  When doing the research for this trip the one place that we both decided that we wanted to visit the most was the Catacombs.

A short history about this place is that there were so many graveyards that were being closed that they slowly started to move them underground during the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries due to health risks.  There are around 6 to 7 million Parisian remains about 20 metres underneath that spreads around 11,000 sq. meters.  We chose this tour for that history.  For the reason alone that these people have been gone for so long that they are starting to be forgotten.  They have no names, not ID, and they are under the street where everyone walks.  Everyone forgets that they are there and some may not even know that they are there.

Normally the lines are long and wrap around the block leaving you to stand for three to four hours just to get in.  Opening times vary during the week, but normally open at 10am and the last entry is at 7:30pm.  It takes around 45 minutes for you to tour, but there are only 200 people at a time in the Catacombs.  This makes it very nice since you are not right on top of each other and you can take pictures easily.  It is 12 Euros per person to get in, but worth it.  (Remember that the coins are worth something too!  If you don't know what to get with them there are places that you can get a coin to remember the trip by that cost 2 Euros.) For you clothing to wear there, I wore my Tieks, jeans, and a tee-shirt.  I will highly recommend not wearing flats, heels, skirts, or dresses since it is muddy and damp.  There are places that are blocked off that you are not aloud to go, but you can see some of they way down if you use a flashlight on your phone.  The whole space is pretty wide open so you can move around.  The bones are impressive, but still creepy.  I had a feeling like someone was always watching me while I was in

there.  The temperature stays at 14 degrees Celsius, so around 57 degrees Fahrenheit which is nice after the hot sun.

I will say this about the whole tour.  It isn't guided tour, so you can walk as you please, but wear good shoes since it is slippery.  There are 213 stairs to get down to the Catacombs and to get out, so if you have a problem with stairs you may want to avoid this. The tour comes out a little over a mile away, so make sure that you are aware of that.  This is one of the places that I would put on your list of things to do, just for the history of how they had to bring the bodies down and where they put them.