The Catacombs and Pompidou

It was a dark and cloudy day. And although the threat of thunder and rain was imminent, my friends and I took to the streets of Paris. I guess it made sense on such a day to explore the creepier areas of the city. The atmosphere was already set for something menacing...now what about the activity? In this state of mind, it's obvious where our journey took us: the catacombs. I wasn't too excited to visit Paris's underground burial site, where tourists finally got that opportunity to smile next to a real human skull. But as it is one of the city's main attractions (and I figured it would make excellent blogging material), I caved. 

I'm not sure why I thought I could easily handle walking forty-five minutes underground next to the remains of real human corpses. I can barely watch Law and Order without covering my eyes. Needless to say, it gave me the creeps and quite frankly, I was booking it by the end. The little British girl cracking jokes in front of me only made things worse.

"Daddy, why don't they put bones on the floor?"

"Oh no, darling, they've arranged everything in quite a respectful manner you see.."

"Well if they did, I would go 'crunch, crunch, crunch!'" she said, stomping her feet then falling into ripples of laughter. Little Devil. 

To be fair, I did enjoy the beginning of the tour when we were just winding our way down the tunnel. Every so often I'd hide behind the next wall and when my poor friend Danielle came ambling about the turn, I'd pop out and scare her. Oh, her face. Really made things more lively down there. She wised up after the third time though and starting taking very wide turns to peek out and see me before I could attack. Smart girl. Karma definitely got me back however thirty minutes later when I turned around and realized I'd lost all my friends. I had to walk fifteen minutes on my own before I saw someone I knew! Fifteen minutes! That's a lot of time to be alone and surrounded by dead people (this was also the time I got stuck with that little British girl who was obviously not as scared as me). 

I don't think I'll be visiting again anytime soon. But I know my underground adventures are far from over. Next stop: a tour of Paris's very intricate sewer system. 

Uh, oh. Anne doesn't like being the leader.

Now imagine getting lost along these tunnels...NOT fun.

Centre Pompidou

I only made it to the first floor of the Centre Pompidou and I'm sad to say I wasn't impressed. I don't know if it's my lack of knowledge of modern art that inhibits my appreciation...or if the stuff in there is just weird. Dragging my feet around, I managed to watch a video of a nude woman hula hooping with barbed wire. Then on to the next video about prostitution in Mexico. Very uplifting stuff, obviously. After the first floor, I couldn't force myself up the steps to the next level. I later heard, however, that the fourth and fifth floors are much more interesting, and that there are even some Picasso's to be found. Maybe next time. Until then, I thought the fountain outside was the most interesting part of the Centre Pompidou. Even in the rain.