Life as Usual?

It's been a fairly uneventful few days for us in Paris. Steve's program continues, and he reports that it's challenging but been really great. He says his awareness on the podium has reached a whole new level just by learning to use his ears more specifically. I asked him to write a post about it, but that didn't go anywhere, so be sure to ask him, and ask for more details to get past "Paris was good."

It took me a good ten minutes to figure out what I did on Monday, but finally remembered I went for a run (another short one... 26.2 is definitely not happening in October I'm sad to say), then worked on some ChoralFest prep - COME SING WE NEED SOPRANOS!! - before chorale rehearsal. On my way home I stopped for a crepe because Paris and went back to the apartment for some more work at the computer.

Yesterday after another run, this time along the Seine, which does not get old, I buckled down and worked on a conference paper for ClarinetFest the first weekend in August. It was pretty hot out (95) so I didn't mind staying in our less hot apartment, and I managed to get a few pages written. I was hoping I might be able to go visit a friend who is in London next week if I got enough of the paper done, but the train/plane ticket prices are just not feasible. BOO.

Today started out as another warm one, so I decided I'd get up earlyish and check out the Paris Catacombs. Rick Steves warned me there might be a 1.5 hour wait, so get there at 9:30 for the 10:00 opening. I did. And then waited for almost 3 hours. THREE HOURS. It was one of those things, I'm sure you've been there... after even an hour I was pretty over it, but I'd already invested an hour, and what if the line starts going faster? And what if it's awesome? And what if I never come back?

So I waited.

I wouldn't say it was worth a three-hour wait, but I would have been irked to miss it. Especially since I'm still annoyed that I didn't go in the crypt in St. Stephen's or St. Michael's in Vienna.

The catacombs are built in limestone quarries that provided supplies to build so much of Paris. In short, the cemeteries inside Paris in the eighteenth century were overflowing, and when the contents of a mass grave spilled into someone's basement, the government decided enough was enough. Super healthy, right? The audio guide gave some delightfully disgusting details that I'll spare you.

Anyway, there were also some dangerous mines underneath parts of the city that collapsed from time to time, so someone decided to kill two birds with one stone and start transferring bones from central Paris to what was then the outskirts of the city.  

Some SIX MILLION people are buried there. It was truly incredible/terrifying to see so. many. bones. The audio guide rattled off some famous people that are apparently in there somewhere, and all I can remember is Lully (Louis XIV's composer of choice) and Robespierre. There is only one marked grave in the whole place, the one below, and I can't remember whose grave it is:

 There were plaques with dates when the bones were moved there and where they came from... unbelievable.

And after walking through some more tunnels after the ossuary, you climb 80-some steep steps and leave through the most unassuming of doors:

After some failed attempts to buy some gifts, I made my way back home, where I was so wiped out I didn't manage to get anything else accomplished. Whoops! Steve and I went to dinner at Place des Vosges, the square I visited a couple weeks ago, and did some more successful shopping after dinner. Don't ask how much we spent at the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. I mean, one can't leave Paris without reading Proust along the Seine, right?

As we're starting to get a bit reflective about our experience, one thing is for sure: we both agree that we could definitely live in Paris. I've found the people to be very kind - if reserved at first - and there's always something else to discover, from a previously unheard of museum spotted while investigating running routes on Google Maps to a new street of shops and restaurants when trying a different route home. I'm completely obsessed with our corner bakery... I don't know how life will go on without those baguettes! Public transportation is so easy, although we haven't experienced a serious strike, knock on wood! For the most part, I find it a pretty quiet city, too, even with so many people and cars. Walking down a busy Rue de Rivoli tonight was not very much fun, but once we walked into Place des Vosges, the craziness disappeared.

So glad we still have nine more days to enjoy!