Catacombs Mar 24, 2011
I have been home from my travels to Europe for over a month now and life has gone back to normal. I have been thinking a lot about travel lately. I really miss my time away in London and Paris. It's not necessarily the countries that I miss. It is the freedom - doing life as it comes and seeing new and different things every day in a foreign world.
One of the best memories and experiences I have taken away from Paris is the time I spent visiting the Catacombs.
For those who haven't heard of the Catacombs in Paris..my understanding is that between 1786 - 1860, the government wanted its land back and started taking back or limiting land available for cemeteries. This of course meant there was no where to place deceased bodies and the solution was to place them underground. An estimated five to six million skeletons of former citizens lay there to this day.
It was an amazing site. I had never seen human bones in the "flesh" before. I was surprised you were allowed so close to them. You could lean against the bones with your shoulder if you wanted to, that's how close you stand. It was really weird thinking that the skulls in front of me, once upon a time belonged to somebody and was full of thoughts, worries and feelings. I was staring at one set of bones closely for a long time as people passed me.
I simply loved the experience. I am so glad I decided to go. It was a bit of a trek to get to being my second last day I was tired and ready to head back to London in the morning but forcing myself to go out and see something new paid off as it most always definitely does.
