So this morning my mom, my dad, my cousin Miriam and I popped down to the catacombs.

It weird.......very unsettling. Not to say it was strange being that close to things what were dead people once. I like graveyards and I'm not weirded out by death particularly.

I was weirded out by how methodical and organized all the bones were.

The tunnels were generally wide sort of things, with pillars to hold up the roof. Then between the pillars all the leg bones had been stacked with the same knuckle out, sometimes punctuated by a skull or two (often arranged like crosses or gravestones and not, unfortunately, like smiley faces or dolphins). Then all the other bones were piled behind, generally right up to the ceiling. I can't even imagine how many remains were down there.

Occasionally you'd find little gems like this:

If you go down to the catacombs I suggest bringing a tripod. Nothing big: I just have one of those little GorillaPod ones, and it's perfect. I can keep it in my pocket, but it provides the necessary stability when I need it.

Also, it gives you super creepy pictures in low light.

OooooOooOOOOooOoooo...

It was a neat walk. Only 8 euros. The funniest thing about the whole go of it was that they searched you bag on the way out. It surprised me at first, but it makes sense, since none of the bones are affixed. They're all just stacked there.

After that we popped up to the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Rosie was getting very cranky by that point because SOME people couldn't make up their minds where to go, and were arguing with me on the map about where we actually were, and Rosemart was hungry and PMSing and getting kind of crazy...

So we sat in the Jardin du Luxembourg for lunch. There's a...well, I guess a palace (probably du Luxembourg) right nearby. I didn't get any pictures. I was too busy jamming my face full of chese and macarons (I'm not even kidding; that's what I was doing). Also Miriam picked up some lovely breads from a bakery while dad and I were standing in line for the catacombs.

I suppose I ought to mention my dad had wandered off somewhere at this point. We planned to meet up with him later.

So anyway. We decided to take a wander and see if we could find the teahouse in the mosque that Allison had told me about. I had the address, and a map, and lunch, so I was feeling less crazy.

On the way, we ran into the Pantheon:

You can't see it well, but the very peak of the roof, the woman there is Lady France, apparently, and she's handing out fistfuls of laurels to well deserving fancypants.

All I thought was: "Man. Are laurels THAT easy to get?!"

We didn't go in. Thought about it, and then didn't.

It's very close to our hotel, so we thought if we had the burning desire, we could come back. Right now, we were on a MISSION.

So on we pressed.

We travelled down one road on our way to the mosque, but then found a different road looked a lot nicer, so we went down that one instead.

It was full of lots of little shops, and not a lot of tourists, which was nice. Mom bought me a SPECTACULAR pair of pantaloons. Since I call them SPECTACULAR and pantaloons, you can probably guess they are not conservative pants. I have no pictures yet, but I assure you. Magnificent.

We stopped in a small (read 'small'....for Paris) church on our way by. It was lovely and quiet and had beautiful stained glass.

Of course, I'm not going to SHOW you any of the stained glass.

That would be too easy.

Didn't stay long, though. I was getting cranky again.

It probably has something to do with the fact that my leg is getting bad again and my dad requested a top floor hotel room...and it's a walk-up. 125 stairs, either way.

Yuck.

But enough whining. I'm in PARIS! :D

After the church we figured out where we were and found the mosque with little more trouble. It was really beautiful. I should have taken a picture of the courtyard.

Anyway. We sat inside. There were sparrows (maybe chickadees?) living in there trying to steal people's pastries.

They were VERY cheeky.

Here is a bird being all: "Whaaaaaaaaaat? Would I try and steal your delicious baklava, madam? I am not even paying attention to you!"

The inside of the mosque/tea house was pretty neat, too. It was all 1920's art deco.

It has wainscotting up the sides all done in elaborate blue tile, and then painted patterns the rest of the way up and over the ceiling.

Here on the right you can see the ceiling. Pretty slick, n'est pas?

The teahouse was nice. Lots of little East Indian pastries and what not. The only tea you could buy was VERY sweet mint tea served in water glasses.

I didn't care for the tea much. I would gave preferred cold, unsweetened. The the baklava I had was nothing particular, but the atmosphere was gorgeous. It was worth it to go just for the architecture.

After that we started to wander back towards Notre Dame, because my mother had suggested we catch vespers, which was sung.

I was hoping they'd have a big ole tome to sing from.

Because we all know...

Pitches love tomes.

Anyway.

We poked around Notre Dame a little waiting for vespers to start, and start it did. It was just a single woman singing, accompanied by the organ. A priest in long purple robes burned a lot of insence.

It was very pretty, but I was kind of hoping for a choir. Maybe a little boys choir. I like little boys....choirs...

The stained glass was amazing.

There was tons of stained glass.

Also incense.

You know what I didn't know?

My mother faints when she smells incense.

Isn't that funny?

(HINT: IT'S NOT, REALLY.)

Fortunately, however, the air flow was blowing away from my mom, and she DIDN'T faint. She decided to inform us of this affliction after we had left the church, rather than before...

Anyway. After that we popped back to the hotel room and met up with my dad. Then we went out for celebratory dinner, because my cousin Miriam just found out she got the job she wanted! Hooray!

I had onion soup, steak, and chocolate mousse, and LOTS of red wine.

LOTS.

Not enough.

Did you know you can buy bottles of wine in what is effectively the dollar stores here?

They cost about five dollars.

I do not currently have a five dollar bottle of wine.

You know what else is awesome?

French people are way nicer about you speaking English than anybody led me to believe. We have a lot of conversations where we speak English and they speak French and yet, both parties understand.

Anyway. I need to sleep.

I'll catch you on the flip side, or what ever.