We see dead people. Lots of dead people.

Written by: Amy, Abigail, and Colleen with Kerry chiming in.

We woke up late this morning—well, late for me.  We slept in till 9.  That is a bad thing because the hotel we are staying at includes breakfast.  But, that perk is over at half 9 (9:30).  So, we rushed into our clothing and headed down to eat.

There were dreams of waffles and crepes, but we discovered upon arrival that it was more of a continental type fare.  But, food is food.  Except if you're Abby, then food is so hard to peel, you just give up.

At breakfast, we decided we would start our day at the Catacombs which is right next to our hotel.  Abby was less than thrilled, but the rest of us were game.  On the way, I convinced the others to pop into the Montparnasse Cemetery.  It was by happy coincidence that I found the name Blaise Pascal on the list of notable people buried in the cemetery.  So, I just had to have a picture of that! But, the maps were in French (imagine!).  The girls and I must have looked pretty helpless because the gentlemen in the security enclosure finally opened the door and asked who we were looking for.  They directed us to a grave.  And, you will never guess who it was—Poincare! 

OMG!  It's Poincare.  I'm not the only person to honor him.

Well, I was thrilled.  I knew he had died a couple years ago.  It was so cool to see the offerings people were putting on his grave.  I then knew I wasn't the only math pilgrim to worship at his alter. 

Yet another French Mathematician we found along the way.

But, where was Pascal?  I NEEDED to see his resting place as well.  We looked and looked and only found what appeared to be a crypt with the family name on it, but you couldn't see what was inside.  It was locked!  AGONY.....I have to find him.  I know he had to be in there somewhere (it's not like he got up and walked away).  

Looking left and....

right.  Still no Pascal.

Which sucks because as a mathematician trying to find the grave of one of the greatest mathematicians, being defeated by a map is completely demoralizing.
After searching the cemetery for several long minutes, Ker and I admitted defeat.

It turns out that after a bit of late night research online (what I lack in intelligence, I try to make up for in hard work and determination), the crypt we found is in fact Pascal's crypt.  So, the pictures I took from the broken window today of the inside are legit. 

I still can't find him, but do you see what I see?

I'm thinking he's here.  But, it's hard to see.

I will be going back on this trip to pay my respects.  I think if you look at the pictures, you may spy another notable mathematician—Fourier.  But, I haven't really confirmed this is the right Fourier so don't get your hopes up.

Incidentally, the cemetery. looked very much like the ones in New Orleans.  By that I mean that resting places are marked with above ground, or mostly above ground, crypts and slabs.  However, this cemetery is immense and completely crammed with centuries worth of people.  For an example, Pascal died in the 1600's.  So, it's had years and years of being the final resting place of wealthy Parisians.

Pano of a Montparnasse Cemetery.  I'm in the center of a circle.

Once we gave up, we headed to the catacombs to see how the not so wealthy were treated. 

But, first let me tell you that it is COLD here.  The ambient temp here is at freezing.  But, there is a wind that will just take your breath away.  We are not letting that get in the way, but it hurts my chest to breathe.  The first ski store I find, I'm buying myself some ski bibs. 

Colleen:

Dead people on the walls

            Hello again, Ireland/other followers and family. Mom told me to write about the catacombs, so that's what I'm doing. You know, while most people's reactions are 'barf' and 'creepy', my first thought was 'RUDE!' Then it was 'creepy', then 'COOL!'. I mean come on. The bones of 6,000,000 Parisians don't sound a little cool? But I feel like the person who made unknown dead people's skulls into a heart shape on the wall isn't a little rude? I mean the least you could do is figure out who they were.

Some of the 6,000,000 skeletons.

            But anyways, we walked through and got our shoes dusted with decomposed remains of the human type. Eventually Mom had to remind me OVER and OVER and OVER that I had to stay behind her. I did not like this at all seeing as they are all only half as fast as I am and I don't really have a 'slow' setting. Annoying!

Stop holding me up!

            






















So about the catacombs. The catacombs are a series of tunnels that were once a quarry for Paris.  In the late 1700's to early 1800's they had a SERIOUS issue with all the dead people in Paris. They started putting them in wells which stunk up the entire city. Eventually, they decided to put them 120 ft. underground in the quarry. But, time passes and people don't want to see the catacombs anymore. They sealed and locked it up. Once again, time passes, and the catacombs start to collapse. Someone goes in, they get lost, and they never come out. The person who got lost down there made very interesting carvings in the walls. They made an entire mini replica of a castle of the Baltic Islands from memory.

Wow. I would not be able to do that in the pitch dark. Much less from memory. Apparently before that though, it was just a series of tunnels hollowed out by the swampy marshland that Paris was before it was Paris. Archeologists found giant fossilized shells inside, as well as shark teeth and fossilized fish.

            It's late, and I think I should go to bed after a thoroughly exhausting day.

Nighty night,

Colleen

Amy:

Some cool things about the Catacombs:  It's warm down there!  I don't know if it is because we are closer to the core of the earth, or if the warmth is from decomposition of 6 million skeletons. 

Descending into the Catacombs.  Where it's strangely warm.

After the Catacombs we made our way toward the Grand Palais.  The initial plan was to eat at one of the museum restaurants.  However, once we got to the correct place, we had trouble finding an entrance that was open. A couple of them were locked with nice signs on them—in French.  Which I don't speak.  Once we found an open entrance, we found out that to eat at one of the restaurants, you need to buy a ticket to see the exhibits.  Um, no.  I'm saving my limited attention span for the Louvre, thank you very much.  Luckily, there was a restaurant looking thing next door.  So, that's were we headed to regroup and make a new plan.

I walked into the restaurant and said the word “lunch” as that seemed to be the question the waiter was asking me.  He took us to a nice table. 

Fancy, right?

We had already spied the menu outside and decided on eating sandwiches as they were in our price range.  The lunch menu we were given in the restaurant had prices that were astronomical.  22euro for a hamburger!  I was not going to stand, I mean, sit for it.  I was getting ready to storm out of there when Kerry went up and asked the waiter about the menu outside.  It turns out that if you want the low prices, you have to sit outside or in this tiny enclosed area next to the door.  For everywhere else, you get the astronomically priced menu.  Bah!  It kind of tainted our experience.  That and the sandwiches had cheese on them so the girls were less than thrilled to eat them. 

After that experience, we needed to do something fun, so we sent Ker across the street to the good Wi-Fi to find out how to get to the Chocolate Museum.

Abigail:

The Chocolate Museum

            Hi all, I'm writing from gay Paris! Oui oui! French words! Pastries! Crepes! The history of chocolate? Who knew that this chocolate museum was in Paris?  They first talked about the Mayan and Aztec uses of the liquid chocolate- how the beans were used as currency and that only royals and nobles drunk the chocolate. I have never seen so many Aztec and Mayan artifacts in one place because it's just not something that Americans talk about, like at all. In Europe, you'll see museums that talk about things from all over the world. In the chocolate museum alone there were things from the Aztecs/Mayans, things from around Europe, and things from America all in one place. Now, it could just be that Washington, D.C. is full of itself and there are actually other museums with French and British and Latin American stuff in America, but from the way things are there I would lean towards not. So it's cool to see things from Wales and London and France and the U.S. and South America all in one place. In part two of the museum, it talked about how when Cortez conquered the Aztecs, he grew fond of the chocolate drink and brought it back to Spain. Spain did not allow it to be exported, so Britain and France were not introduced to it until much later. When they did find out about it, it spread like wildfire with the popularity. Royals and nobles and fancy people much preferred it over coffee. There were even special cups made just for the drink, my favorite being the Mustache Cup. It has a little rim going towards the inside so you can keep your mustache dry while drinking the foamy chocolate. Part three featured a CHOCOLATE DEMONSTRATION! A kind French man let us in and spoke both French and English for us while he demonstrated how he made chocolate. It wasn't the best, and I probably wouldn't eat it again, but it was cool to see how the machines did it – first making the outer shell, then doing the insides, then doing the finishing shell.

We got to taste chocolate from Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica and one other that I don't remember. Dad went off wandering and didn't get to see/taste the chocolate, but I smuggled out a piece of dark Costa Rican chocolate. Whelp, it's like 11:00, we partied hard today, and you'll hear that from Dad and Mom and Colleen.

Going to bed now,

Abigail Cakebread

Amy:

Next stop?  Rodin Museum.  It was extremely impressive.  I very much liked the Gates of Hell. 

The Gates of Hell in bronze.

It was so amazing to see just how much time, effort, and creative force went into creating this masterpiece.  We saw The Thinker   I can just imagine what these would look like in the non winter months. 

The only time you'll catch me thinking.

and the Calais Monument in the incredibly impressive gardens.

After the Rodin Museum, it was time for the main event—the Louvre.  Just to give you an idea of why we might need to fortify ourselves, the Louvre has a perimeter of approximately 3 miles.  To say it's immense is just not getting to the heart of it.  What's cool is that it stays open late on Friday nights.  So, I thought it would be good to do the day things and see the Louvre at night.  We hopped on the Metro and zipped over to the Musee de Louvre stop.  The subway station exits right into the underground mall that is part of the Lourve.  There were the usual high end shopping choices—Apple Store, L'Occitane and Starbucks.  Kind of a shocking to see such blatant consumerism right next to the most awesome museum in the world. 

But, once you get through all of that, you get to see the two pyramids and it is all worth it.  What a feat of engineering, mathematics and art.  The glass just almost touching the sandstone creates a tension that is palpable. 

Also, the stone pyramid is much smaller than the glass, but it's medium makes it appear mightier than the inverted pyramid.  It's pretty amazing up close.

After drooling and ogling on and around the pyramid, we decided to seek some sustenance before we headed in to see the sites. 

Pretty neat, huh?

I've got a pyramid coming out of my head!

After a couple of back and forthing, it was decided that the girls would have McDonalds and Ker and I would have some other type of mall food at the food court.  The girls were thrilled to make and pay for their order in a computerize kiosk   Their food came out and they were pretty happy about the whole transaction.  If you were wondering, they said the “food” served in this establishment tastes similar to that at home—nasty.  They complain that the fries were stale and under salted.  I think it's a European thing as they have had similar issues with the “food” from fast food restaurants in Ireland and the UK.

No human needed!

 instead of having to interact with an actual human.

As fortified as we could have been, we forged on to tackle the museum. We had to figure out the ticket situation.  It's been an adjustment for us in Paris because the museums have been free for us in London, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.  Here in Paris, we have had to pay in each place we've been.  The girls have generally been free, but Ker and I have been dinged anywhere from 15 to 25 euro each place.  It kind of sucks.  But, it was all going to be worth it.

And, it was.  Amazing, incredible, impressive, world-class are just a few words that come to mind.  After some orientation with the maps and offerings, we headed off to see Hamanaptra's Stone.  It took a while to get there because this place is just chock full of every conceivable type of art imaginable, which demanded detours to pay them homage.  When you rest your eye to the right, you are captivated by a sculpture of a lion wrestling a man.  If you glance right you see paintings by the grand masters of every century.  And, you try to see it all.  Even though you know you will never be able to see even a fraction of what this mecca of art has to offer, you push yourself to go to the next room, or check the next corner to take it all in.  But, like all other museum experiences so far, there's only so much you can really take in before you are just zooming through and not assimilating anything you see.  After 2 hours, I just hit the mental wall.  I was so visually over stimulated, that I put my map over my face in complete surrender to stop taking any more information in.  Which seemed like such an insult to the masterpieces all around me.  So, yes, I can say I saw the Mona Lisa, but I can tell you I felt nothing from that painting. 

Yep, that's the Mona freaking Lisa.

But, neither did Abby and she's into that kind of thing.  So, maybe I am not as bad at all that Martha Stewart stuff as I think.

At 9:15 pm, we threw in the towel and headed to dessert and our beds.  What troopers though!  It was such a pleasure tackling this museum with Ker and the girls. 

They look done, don't they?

I only wish Dev could have been there to see it all as well.  I’m glad to be counted as yet another human who got her ass kicked by the Lourve.  Usually getting my ass handed to me by inanimate objects would infuriate me or make me feel disappointment.  Not this time.   Instead, I feel like one of a unique club of the ass whooped.  We should get a secret badge to identify each other.