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Since we began planning our trip (13 years ago), Melinda has continuously expressed her regret that she didn't visit the Paris Catacombs when she came to Paris in high school.  I had never been either, and it was high on our list of activities for the trip.

The closest metro stop is about 2 blocks away, and Aidan's becoming an old hat at riding it.

Where do we get off?

The metro is soooo not a big deal...

When we got to the Catacombs, the line stretched around the block.  Luckily, it was a fairly fast-moving line and it only (only!) took us about 1.5 hours to get in.  That was just enough time for Aidan to feed his pigeon friends, take some selfies and bad photos of us, and then drop the digital camera and break it.  It was 5 years old and on its last legs, but...

While we were in line we met an Irish high school student who was on an 2 week exchange trip.  We tried to protect her from the itinerant water vendor who kept speaking to her in an unidentified language and trying to flirt with her.  It was extremely annoying and uncomfortable.  My inner Parisian came out and I had to yell at him in French.  Melinda found that quite amusing.

The Catacombs were amazing.  You have to descend deep below the city.  Flash photography is prohibited, so we did the best we could.  We were doing fine with my digital camera (the second one-- not the one Aidan broke), but it chose to die about 10 minutes into our visit.  Yay!  So, we had to depend on the iPhone for photos for the rest of the day.  Also, it is extremely dark in the Catacombs, so photographs don't do them or the ossuary justice.

stacks of bones line room after room

The Catacombes de Paris were established in the late 18th century and contain bones from many cemeteries in Paris

lots of steep hills

the ceilings are low

Aidan was a little concerned during the visit-- he found it to be kind of creepy

some of the rooms have carved miniature buildings

quarry bath

many of the walls have dates as to when they were built or reinforced-- much of the space used to be a quarry dating to the Roman period.  The limestone used to build all the gothic cathedrals in the area came from this quarry

After we ascended about 2 million minuscule yet extremely steep and curving stairs (we are plagued by stairs on this visit-- I think Melinda might have stair PTSD after this trip-- she's taken to counting the stairs to our apt (94) now), we stopped at a cafe (surprise, surprise).  Originally, we had planned to visit the Musee Cluny, but Aidan was not feeling it.  So, we decided to shake stuff up a bit and go back to Les Invalides, since we hadn't gotten there early enough due to the baggage fiasco of a few days ago.  Aidan has a major obsession w. Napoleon, arms, and wars, so this was completely up his alley.  He had to chase pigeons on the way and then we got to see amazing displays of arms and weaponry dating from the 15th century to WW2. We also saw Napoleon's tomb.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.  We're pretty sure that Les Invalides has been Aidan's favorite part of the trip.  He claims it was the Eiffel Tower, but we all know that's not true...

Aidan in front of Les Invalides

Aidan loading a cannon

 

Melinda's taken to spontaneously photo bombing

Napoleon's not really in there

Melinda and Aidan are the two tiny figures across the way

Seriously, Melinda, Napoleon was awesome.  I don't know why you don't believe me

What every aristocratic child needed-- armor for kids!

And that's a long bow and that's a short bow and that's a...

After Les Invalides, we had a not good, over-priced dinner, but it was on this street:

 And this was the view from the table:

Luckily, there was a FNAC down the street, so I was able to buy a new digital camera for about the same price as the US.  :)  So, we can continue taking pictures tomorrow when we go to Cluny and wherever else the day takes us!