By bevvy2212
In the spirits of Halloween, my friend and I decided to go visit the infamous Catacombs of Paris. It has always been on the top of my to-do-list since the previous two times I have visited Paris, I missed out the opportunity to check this supposedly spooky place so, why not do it during one of the scariest weekend of the year?
The Catacombs (Les Catacombs in French), is located in the 14th arrondisement in Paris, metro stop is Denfert Rochereau (Line 6.) We got there at around 12:30pm and the line was already all the way around the park. Probably because it was Sunday. The wait was ... hideous. We basically stood in line for almost four hours, so definitely remember to bring a book with you to avoid death from boredom. However, I did made tremendous progress in my Gender Equality in the Welfare States book while waiting in line <-- Another reason why you gotta love the city: the wait is so insanely long that it makes you very productive.
The ticket was 8 euros with a student ID and 3 euros extra if you want an audio guide. After that, it was down to the underworld we go.
After winding stairs which seemed to be forever long, we landed in a small room that had a few descriptions of the Parisian underground and how the place was first used as a quarry. P.S., if you're claustrophobic, this is probably not your thing. We walked through a lot of winding tunnels that were quite cramped. Also, don't wear heals, or you'd probably die in case if something starts chasing after you. Jk, but seriously. No heels. (Because you'd probably hit the roof if you're taller than 5'11)
The quarry walk took a while, long enough to made me doubt whether I had really signed up to visit the massive human grave of Paris. Then, there it was, the gate to the Underworld. It had a plaque over it in French, saying: stop, here is the empire of the dead. Too bad, movin' on.
The view once you enter, was quite stunning. The amount of skulls and shin bones that were neatly piled up was un-imaginable. I had once been to the Catacomb in Lima, Peru, and that one looked like a tiny playground in comparison to this sprawling underground maze. Approximately six million people were buried in the Catacombs because during the Bubonic Plague, too many people were dying that they had nowhere to put them but underground. Then later in the 17th century, someone decided to make a neat pile of them and voila. The French took after the Roman Catacombs in terms of naming their own Empire of the Dead, and I'm very excited to visit the one in Rome when my program ends in December.
While we were down in the tunnel, I heard this ruffling sound coming from beside me and I peered into the piles of bones and saw nothing. The ruffling sound kept on moving along with me and out of instinct, I jumped a mile away from my friend who was walking next to me, nearly falling onto another pile of bones in the process. My friend looked at me with bewilderment: "Bev the heck are you doing?". "Shh.... I hear a ghost I think." She then raised her plastic bag, which was the source of the ruffling sound. Ok. Not a ghost.
We then reached a spot where they once held a concert there and played Mozart's Funeral March, how wicked cool is that?!
Later when we exited, the workers asked us to open our bags for them to check, in case we have stolen some bones from the Catacombs coz you know, I'd love to give some 700 hundred-year-old bones as house-warming gifts.