Day 5 - Tour de France - Part One

March 16, 2012

Last full day in Paris, so sad. I initially had three things planned for today: Catacombs, Louvre, and Palace of Versailles. Unfortunately I scrapped Versailles before I even left the apartment this morning. Sad right? I know and I am sorry. I did it for three reasons:

1. I have already been.
2. I really just wanted to see the gardens, and I had a feeling that like the other gardens I have seen in Paris everything was going to be leave-less. (Its winter). 
3. Based on the rate I have been going, I was never going to make it there. You must understand that Versailles is to the rather extreme southwest outside of Paris. It was going to be a good 30 minute Metro ride. 

However, I did see WAY more today than I planned! I saw a lot! I had no intentions on seeing so much, but life is funny that way. I am very thankful! I have a feeling that this might be another 2 part blog post. First I passed by the food market down the street from my apartment. I meant to go here sooner, but never got around to it. Very fresh fruits and vegetables. I would have bought some, but the US is real funny about bringing foreign produce into the country. 

My next stop is the Catacombs. Creepy...I know. I have said time and time again that I do not do death, graves, things like this very well. I have always felt as if I was messing with some serious mojo. Lol! This place had signs up everywhere asking people to not touch the bones out of respect. Well duh! Why on Earth would someone want to touch those bones? Once again, you are messing with some serious mojo. I happily kept my hands to myself! At this point I should mention that flash photography was not allowed. It should go without saying, but the catacombs are a pretty dark place, not well lit. My poor camera had the hardest time focusing without any light. Just a few facts, the Paris Catacombs are home to about 6 million people. It was quite the labyrinth. It spans 1.5 km (1 mile). It was rather cold, and water was seeping from the Earth in various places. A drop of water got on my head...yuck! I had to walk down 114 steps to get to the catacombs, and then walk 83 steps to get back up. Check out the steps, they were no joke!

Cool pics huh? Creepy...but still cool! :)

Outside of the entrance/exit of the catacombs I saw some pretty cool statues and buildings. I do not know the meaning of them, if any, but I thought they would be blog worthy.
Bottom Right: This is a picture of Tour Montparnasse Tower. It is a 689 ft. skyscraper, with arguably the best view of Paris.

At this point I am on the south side of Paris looking for the next Metro station so I can go on to the Louvre. Walking, walking, walking...next thing I know I see Les Invalides. I was not planning on seeing this, but life is real funny like that. It was at this point that I realized that sometimes in life we spend to much time riding the metaphorical Metro and not enough time walking and enjoying life. At this point, being so close, I just decided to walk it out and see the wonder that was placed before me. For those of you wondering, Les Invalides is a large museum, actually several small museums together, of all things French Military. It also doubles as a retirement home for war veterans.

It amazes me how the most beautiful things are the oldest. These places really have a calming effect on me. I really become carefree. Amazing. Okay, I think this wraps up Part One. Look out for Part Two in the next couple of days.