Warning: Some of the photos in this blog entry may not be suitable for younger audiences, or the squeamish. No kidding - viewer discretion is advised
2:46 PM - I quickly made my way to the RER station with my pre-purchased ticket.
2:53 PM - when I walked into the station, a well dressed black guy came up to me and asked something in French - maybe for change or to come through turnstile with me? I told him in French that I didn't understand, put my ticket in and walked through. Next thing I know he jumped the turnstile behind me and a very sloppy, long-haired and bearded 'security' guard called him back. I just kept going - not my problem.
I have an iPhone app that will tell me what the closest RER and Metro station is to any address in Paris, and another portion of the same app can advise how to get from my station to that one (what system / line/ station to take and transfer to).
Came in very handy doing research for myself and some of the TTS staff at the booth this morning, as we all made our touring plans today - I was able to do some homework during the slow time in the Congress booth this morning (and with free Wi-Fi!) to figure out several sites I want to see, and took notes in the iPhone. So basically, I am carrying around a tour guide in my pocket! I want to avoid maps and bags so I look local, and with a light jacket and zippered pockets I can carry everything I need and look non-touristy.
It took awhile, with my iPhone app to figure out final station of the RER C line, which passes the station I want to go to. The final station gives you the direction you need to go, and the resulting platform and train to go on. The monitors also listed all the stations that the next train approaching will go to. RER lines have maybe 20 stops total, and every 2nd train approx. does every 2nd stop so each train's stations list is about 10 long - easy to read.
Metro is a bit more complicated as they have a shorter route but way more stations on the line, but they stop at everyone so it's a more forgiving system. If you get off on the wrong RER station it's a hassle to cross over to the other platform (the platform isn't usually in the middle of the train lines), and then sometimes you wait two trains to go back where you started from to try again.
My C line ends at Dourdan or Massy (it branches off and ends at two different stations, thus why every second train stops different places, as each eventually goes a different way). I don't go to the end of the line though - I get off at St.-Michel station and change to the Metro (subway) train. St.-Michel is one of many transfer stations in Paris, like Columbia or Broadway in Vancouver.
I need to pass about 10 stops on the C line (RER) to get there going east, and then I transfer to B Line (RER), ending at Denfert Rochereau, about 5 stops going south. System says it will take 37 min total - and need to be at my destination, the Catacombs of Paris, before 4:00 PM (the last admission of the day).
Had to pull out my wallet to look at an RER map. Man I hate 50 and 100 euro bills - they are bigger than the others and are so tall that they stick out the top of most wallets - making them really easy to spot if someone's looking.
The RER train that arrived a few minutes after I got to the platform was a bit old and needed new seats, but was relatively clean and still pre-rush hour, so relatively quiet. The way back should be more interesting as rush hour will be full on. Something I've never seen on transit before - bathrooms! I guess that's a must on a commuter train due to time and distances you are on (some lines are more than an hour from Start/End points)
3:12 PM - love the station names. Passed the Eiffel Tower a few stations ago, and just left Invalides. Next is Orsay, where the world-famed Museum by the same name is located - and yes I plan to go at some point but not today. Next stop is St-Michel where I change trains.
3:15 PM - arrive at St-Michel, and again, I don't know why the station doesn't go by its more famous name - Notre Dame!
3:21 PM - Transferred to RER B line. A bit more confusing - they use an older system which has all stations listed on a big board with lights beside each station name. Just before the next train arrives it lights up with the stations that train goes to, and you stand there studying the board like a Bingo game, with lots of other people trying to do the same. It's roughly the same principle as the monitors but harder to read.
Next train coming is the one I get on, in one minute. I'm glad to, because this is clearly an older, creepy area of town. Have to be a bit more alert here - no wallets or other valuables showing. When I first came to the B Line platform (and I'm not sure if I'm beside, under or over the C Line one - you go through these rats mazes that don't tell you what direction you are going or anything) some guy walked to me and handed some French newspaper and then started talking to me.
I tried to hand it back when I saw it was €3.50 - even the London Times isn't that much! Clearly this was some charity thing - I deal with enough of this in YVR so handed it back and he kept talking. Finally dropped it on the floor and walked away. Station needed to be burned down and rebuilt. It was a filthy, scuzzy disaster.
Got on the next train. Different lines have different type of trains, much like in Boston. This looks much more like a traditional commuter train with 2 seats facing each other in groups of 4, and only 1 level (see picture left, click for larger). This station, unlike others I'd seen, was above-ground, and the trains were only one-level, not like the 2-level larger trains on the C Line going to Versailles (where they need the extra capacity).3:40 PM - I got off at Denfert-Rochereau station and headed for exit, realizing as I did that I knew which station to go to, but not where from there - and didn't bring phrasebook or map to ask directions or find them myself! Hmmm, sometimes being a tourist has its privileges. Thank god for iPhone. I had paid for 4 MB of international data - plenty for using map applications, before I left Vancouver, in case I need them.
Ahh, nothing like the smell of human urine as you leave the station.
When I got to the street above, a traffic circle was in front of me, and I swear all the buildings looked just like the ones at the Palais des Congres area - like the buildings of Paris shared one set of blueprints for the whole city. Certainly cost effective - not terribly attractive. I clearly was in the poorer area of the city, judging by the people shuffling in and out of the station. The first smell that hit me was garbage heating in the sun. Yum. A very grey day here now, looks like rain at any time. Also, a statue of a lion graces the middle of the traffic circle, with the words "a la Defense Nationale 1870-1871" - representing the final siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War (which France lost) (see picture right, click for larger)For Canadians who have never seen an invading army on our shores, it's hard to imagine an enemy army occupying our cities. The citizens of Paris have been invaded and conquered by the Prussians in 1814 and finally by the Nazis in June 1940. In every situation, they fought back against their occupiers and pushed them out - though some would argue the Germans stayed far longer than their welcome needed to be in World War II, due to Nazi sympathizers here, which are still a sore spot in France to this day.
There was a sign right outside the train station leading you to the Catacombs, which pointed to the right. I soon learned it made zero sense, and once you walked toward where it pointed, there were no follow-up signs to lead you to the Catacombs (see picture left, click for larger). Yet, right in front of you was a walkway that led to a little park situated in the centre of the traffic circle - and the Catacomb entrance was in that park. Why on earth not point straight ahead? I soon learned this wasn't exactly Paris' most famous tourist attraction, but possibly (for a history buff like me) one of its most amazing. In fact, bar none, I think this is the most eye-opening thing I've maybe ever paid to see in my life - and I may see it in my mind for the . You'll soon see why.The Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Pari are a famous underground ossuary (graveyard of bones) in Paris, organized in an old abandoned limestone quarry towards the end of the 18th century, and open to the public since 1867. The l'Ossuaire Municipal (as it is officially known) was just outside the city gates before Paris expanded in 1860, and though it covers only a small section of the city's vast underground tunnels, Parisians today refer to the entire system as "the Catacombs".
Most of Paris's larger churches once had their own cemeteries, but city growth and generations of dead (including thousands who died in the Plague) began to overwhelm them. From the 1780s, Paris' largest Les Innocents cemetery was so full, people living nearby were suffering from disease due to contamination caused by improper burials, open mass graves, and dirt charged with decomposing organic matter. Yah, as I said before, viewer discretion is advised!
The city soon condemned all the graveyards in Paris, and created three new suburban ones. The remains of all condemned cemeteries were then moved quietly to this abandoned limestone quarry, and their bones were piled, in some cases in interesting patterns, throughout the tunnels of the old mine. Victor Hugo used his knowledge about the tunnel system to write the famous book (and later Broadway play) Les Misérables. During World War II, Parisian members of the French Resistance used the tunnel system, and German soldiers also established an underground bunker in the catacombs below Lycée.
3:45 PM - The entrance was hardly noticeable (see picture right, click for larger) - just a little sign above a door telling you that you had arrived. Oddly, people sitting right outside the building could not tell me where the Catacombs were, and they clearly lived in the area. Odd. I paid the clearly unenthusiastic ticket lady my €8, got my ticket, and entered the building. I went to a spiral staircase carved out of the stone and circled farther and farther into the depths of the city. In fact, an American behind me counted out 130 steps as we went down. I had to stop for a second because the spiral staircase was so tight and went so long, I got really dizzy after awhile.Note to those who are overweight, out of shape, have unsure footing or need assistance to walk - skip this attraction altogether. The only thing that is handicap-accessible here is the front door. Nope, just remembered, there were stairs walking up to it too. And for Heaven's sake, leave your kids at home if you come - it'll scare the crap out of them.
When you finally got into the centre of the earth (so it felt), a sign greeted you with the cheery announcement that you had to walk 500 metres ahead (that's 1/2 a kilometre!) to the actual Catacomb site - in dark, wet, smelly tunnels that were barely lit (see pictures left an, click for larger). We weren't allowed to use flash down there to "respect the dead" (not that they would know the difference).I was by myself and wasn't even sure if anyone else was in the entire tunnel system ahead of me, but could hear voices behind me and so I relaxed a bit. I can't watch horror movies because they give me nightmares, so it would easy to guess how technicolor my fears were becoming so far down here, with dim lights, a huge fear of rats (I learned there were none), no idea what was ahead - and knowing that eventually I'd stumble upon thousands of dead people. Oh, and a guy my height had to walk bent over the whole way, because apparently the people who dug these tunnels worked for the Wizard of Oz before they got this gig - the tunnel barely was 5'10" high in places.
I was also wearing sandals and kept stepping in water - my mind raced about where that water washed by, or what kind of pipes it came out of in the first place (i.e. sewers?). In places it dripped on you too. I wanted to get the heck out of there after about 10 minutes. I'm glad I didn't.
By this point I met up with a few people, who seemed to be from the US, and found out later some were, so I felt better. At least I wasn't alone or in a dungeon full of language barriers as well. I didn't understand what the pictures were for sure, but they were dead people's bodies with their clothes on, lying in little open crypts. I'm assuming some of the burial areas were like this at one. I quickly moved on, as I know that would have disturbed my sleep later for sure.
Walked toward another tunnel...and there they were. Leering at you, their arms, legs, ribs, etc. all piled in nice little piles. The dead of Paris. Miles of tunnels full of their bones (we only saw a small portion of it). Nearly 1700 years worth of them - one article I read indicated Paris has 6 million dead within its borders, and as many as 1/2 of them were buried here.
Cremation was unheard of until the turn of the century in sophisticated France. I saw more than a few smashed skulls or with little holes in their heads (guns maybe?), some with half the skull missing, or arms and leg bones smashed almost into powder. You were scared to breathe in there because you didn't know what you were breathing in, but I was strangely not uncomfortable with the skulls themselves. The best place to get pictures was right at the opening of the Catacombs, and an American offered to help (see picture right, click for larger). I know I know, I look just like them.If our tunnel alone were above ground, it would have gone for probably another 1/2 a km. the piles were up to 5'6" high, at least 10-15' wide and went probably another 1/2 a km on both sides, branching off down side tunnels we were not allowed to go into. Can you imagine the ghost stories?
Sometimes there would be a little memorial where the bones of one former condemned cemetery were placed. There were little altars and crosses, etc. - all made out of bones throughout. Hard to explain, but it was both hard to believe and at the same time, was probably the most realistic thing I've ever seen in my life. The finality of death, and how every single person walking this earth will one day look just like this. In this pile were lords and ladies, lepers and losers. Governors and garbage men. A sign at the front said that many mayors of Paris, government officials, Archbishops and others were placed here. Only Cardinal Richelieu, the Kings and royal families of France and Napoleon and his family were allowed a special burial out of nearly 1800 years of dead people - in the cases of the named above, within the floor of Notre Dame Cathedral and other such locations. They were not allowed to exhume bodies and move them to the new cemeteries created - those were reserved for future generations only. Death truly is the great equalizer.
After spending an hour down there, I had enough and wanted out - I was really creeped out by this point, because I started thinking about the fact they were people one, not just these movie props I saw in front of me. But when I saw the special memorial for little kids - hundreds of them, I decided I had to get out of there right now. It took nearly 10 minutes just to get back to street level again. I was up the stairs before I knew it - I couldn't wait to get out of there. On the way up, I kept stepping in water that was running from somewhere. My feet were all wet because I wore sandals. Ugh, I was so disgusted but so glad to see sunlight again.4:59 PM - However, I would have assumed street level would have meant "back where you started from" but of course that wasn't the case. I have no clue where I am, but came up on a Metro station named Alesia so I'm ok now- my iPhone app can help me now. If the battery doesn't go dead - it's at 10% now from all the typing I've done on it.
I exited out of the Catacombs into a back alley for starters, so I didn't even know which street to walk toward. There are no signs leading back to the main traffic areas. It seems I'm now in a totally different part of town, with cute little shops and very busy streets and sidewalks. The first thing you notice when you get back to the street (as you exit into an alley), was a huge church (see picture right, click for larger). I felt like I needed to either go pray or go hide - it was such a welcome relief to see living people everywhere!
5:04 PM - Alesia station (see picture left, click for larger) is 2 stops from Denfert - that's how far we walked to the Catacombs. I must be more than a mile away from the other station. It said it would take 500 m just to get to the Catacombs and then much more after, but I never stopped to think what that would mean underground vs. above ground.
These trains were like LRT streetcars (see picture right, click for larger), and you turned a little hand crank to make the doors open, which was different. I quickly got back to Denfert Rocherau and walked to RER B transfer.Transit here takes a lot if brain power to figure out where you're going. Wow, this was complicated but with the map I got from RER attendant on the first day and the app I have, plus some previous travel experience I quickly figured out I needed to go in direction of Charles de Gaulle airport a few stops (back to Notre Dame), then change back to C line back to hotel. It's Rush hour now, so time to get my game face on. Way too obvious I'm not from here. I need to study the map next time so getting lost (and especially looking like it) isn't an issue.
Also need to carry my hand sanitizer! I'm not even licking my lips after being on Paris trains and soaking up the run-off of dead people on my shoes. A lady I talked to said at the more-famous Catacombs of Rome, you don't even see the dead. "I saw dead people". Hopefully not in my dreams tonight, however.
5:20 PM- Arrived at St-Michel station and went close to the C train entrance. Was trying to remember which way to go and looked at a map for help, and an older couple were doing the same beside me. I asked if they needed help in English and here they were here from Seattle! I told them where I was from and we had a great chat while I went with them back to Invalides station, where they needed to transfer (I kept going on the same line all the way back to Porte Maillot, where the Palais des Congres is). You could tell they were relieved to have a (practically) hone-town guy sharing thoughts with them on Paris, and I enjoyed it too.
5:35 PM - arrived at Porte Maillot and went back to the hotel to shower and change - I couldn't wait to wash my hands especially, and then wiped down my camera, etc. with a wet cloth. I may not be a 100% germophobe but man, you sure become one after that!
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