Catacombs

What better to do on a rainy day in Paris then visit the Catacombs? I'm actually doing a research paper on it for my monuments class, but as of right now, I don't know too much about them other than the fact that skeletons were moved underground from all of Parisian cemeteries that were overpopulated. Healthy people were getting infected by all of the dead, rotting bodies, so they moved them underground. Since the opening of the catacombs as a tourist attraction, the bones have been organized, as you'll be able to see from the pictures below.

This staircase leads down to water, and shows the water level of Paris.

Cool arches that we walked through on our trip underground.

Rachel and I at the entrance to the catacombs. The sign above the door says "Stop. Here is the empire of the dead." We were trying to look scared, but a man behind Sara (who was taking the picture) was making us laugh. (New coat, Mom)

Blurry picture of the stacked up bones.

Alter where they held mass which was celebrated in memory of dead Parisians.

In my high school French class, my teacher used to always tell us that when we went to Paris we should make sure to visit the catacombs because she loved to stick her fingers in their eye holes. So this picture's for her. About 5 minutes earlier, Sara and I secretly touched a skull. It felt like stone.
Round stacking thing of skulls and bones.

Wall of skulls/bones.

Close up of the inside of bones.

The jaw of a skull that still has 2 teeth attached.

A room where bones were just piled up. It continues on in the other rooms behind it.

This is called a "bell hole" and it is the most common place where abandoned quarries collapse. Don't worry though, because this one's been reinforced with concrete.

Climbing the 82 steps on our way out. When we got to the top, there was a man there to check our bags to make sure that we didn't try to steal anything. On the table next to him, there was a stack of bones and skulls that people in the last week have tried to steal!