Paris Underground

After spending two days walking and biking and generally just covering Paris from side to side and with nothing on the books until late afternoon, we took it slow and just saw where the day would take us.   That just happened to be the Musée d'Orsay.  As my all-time favorite museum in Paris (or ever) I wanted to show the girls why it topped my list.  From that clock!  To the Matisses' and Degas'!  To the furniture and sculptures!  I just can't get enough.  

The girls were getting a bit restless, so we ventured off to something that we thought would hold their attention (and still let them learn something new in the process; we can be mean like that sometimes).  Bonus points for the fact that we would also be able to beat the heat at the same time.

Underneath the heart of Paris, lie the skeletal remains of over 3 million Parisians.  What kid (or adult) could resist something that is equal parts creepy and fascinating?  Not our family!  We descended 131 stairs down to a depth of 5 meters (about 5 stories) before beginning our story and our walkthrough almost a mile of tunnels which started off as quarries.  Abandoned when they were stripped dry, they became useful again when the black plague swept through Paris in the late 1700s.  The cemeteries were overflowing in churches all over the city, and the decaying bodies presented a health crisis.  Hence the decision to relocate the contents underground.  Today, the ossuary is the largest in the World and has been open to the public for over 200 years.  Like I said, creepy and fascinating...

The black line was the only way to not get lost in the labyrinth that is the old quarry.

The entrance to the ossuary.

It got a little tight at times.

Walking back up (this time only 112 steps) we took a minute to let our eyes adjust to the light.  With an hour or so left before we had anywhere to be, we decided a walk down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, past the Arc de Triomphe...

finally ending up at the upside-down pyramid underneath the Louvre where we met up with...

The Cousins!

It had been 6 years since the kids (or I) had seen B's brother and his family.  But when we found out that they were also visiting Paris before the wedding, we knew we had to catch a drink and dinner.  And where else would we go but to our favorite restaurant, L'entrecote and then to the crepe guy!

Fun fact - this is the hotel B, and I spent part of our honeymoon 13 years ago.  It is across the street from our favorite dinner spot.

We retired to our Airbnb for an after-dinner drink and then bid the cousins adieu until we met again in Amsterdam a few days later.  Exhausted from another day of fun, we were off to dreamland in no time and woke the next morning ready for our final day in Paris.