Susie Cupcakes

In real life, Day Seven occured immediately following Day Six, but in recap life it is occurring two weeks later. C'est la vie! Let's get started....

It was our last full day (sniff!). We finally got brave enough to take the Metro.

And you know what? It's very easy to use, just as easy as in New York or Boston. Thumbs up for the Metro. We took it south so we could visit the Catacombs.

Turns out everyone wants to visit the catacombs, but only 200 people are allowed in at a time, due to space reasons, and, I think, freak out-claustrophobia reasons. We happily waited an hour or so for our turn.

It was creepy in the extreme. You go down narrow, steep stairs, then walk for a number of minutes before coming upon this:
It's a reproduction of the isle of Elba or something that a miner made in his free time while down in the tunnel. Some of you know how I feel about certain dolls, puppets, and masks (people surrogates), and this is the building equivalent. Creepy! But not as creepy as, you know, 6 million dead people stacked decoratively.

Those are tibias and femurs. Behind that pile it goes back up to 80 feet deep with all the hip bones, fingers, ribs, etc. And it went on for miles (feet).

Passageway after passageway of bones, each section from a different church. It is a strange burial ground/freak show experience. Some people couldn't get enough of it, and wanted to take some of the magic home.

Busted! But seriously, how do you hide a skull on your person? Third boob?

When we re-emerged, the sun was shining and all was right. We decided to go where cheerful Amelie was filmed, Montmartre.

(Alex labeled that "Fake Train Smile" on Flickr. I normally look like I'm plotting something unpleasant.)

Montmartre is adorable and hilly, with beautiful views of Paris.

And I got to meet my first real French kitty!

This kitty lived on an adorable street, in an adorable house with an adorable garden. Is it possible to be jealous of a cat?

Then, I saw ANOTHER ONE!

It was watching birds! I realize that most people don't take pictures of strange cats when on vacation, but I can't help it. I was especially excited since there are so many kitties in artwork, posters, even grafitti, in Paris, but I had yet to see a live one until that day. Maybe I was starting to miss my own meows a bit.

We walked around the neighborhood, seeing where many artists had lived when they were poor and wild. It was charming. I mean, THIS is a door!


Unfortunatley, we had to leave, though, so we could meet up with our "landlord" and get our deposit back on the apartment. We got our moneys back and went to dinner!

We found a sweet little restaurant on the Ile St. Louis (the one with all the ice cream) and had a fabulous three course dinner.

Do you see that pillar on the far left hand side that looks like a table leg? It's a pepper mill! I thought I had the largest Peugeot pepper mill known to God and man (thanks to Jenna!) but apparently there is a bigger model. I don't think it would fit in a regular home. Maybe you could keep it by the bed to attack burglers in lieu of a baseball bat. Love me some pepper mills.

After dinner we went to take a final boat cruise on the Seine. We got to see the Eiffel Tour all dressed up for evening.


And that is the story of our trip to Paris. It was just about the most perfect honeymoon I could have imagined. Thanks, Alex, for a splendid time. Vive le mariage!

Labels: honeymoon, Paris, travel, vacation