Adventures in Europe: Study Abroad 2009: Day 17-July18

This morning after a nice little run around the Eiffel tower, we headed over to the catacombs. We accidentally there a half an hour before it even opened but it ended up being a good thing because the line got long way fast. While we stood in line (which went by way fast once they actually opened) we talked to a couple from north carolina who were having their anniversary. They came to Paris, and only Paris, just for the weekend. Who has the money to just go to a foreign country for less than 3 days? They were funny though. The catacombs were crazy. It's just tunnels and tunnels with bones stacked up on top of each other and lining both walls. I can't even fathom how many people's dead bodies are down there and it's kinda creepy to think that those are all just under the streets of Paris. Every once in a while there was a pattern made out of the bones or some kind of monument/tombstone but for the most part it was just bones...lots and lots of 'em. I didn't really understand why they're all down there but I do know that they used to just have a bunch of shelves down there with all the bodies on them when it was first found and then I guess they just organized them all and stacked them up. I have no idea. It was kinda creepy though. When we were walking through the tunnels we kept trying to scare each other and make scary sounds and it was funny. We just ended up looking like idiots. haha.

After the catacombs we went to Les Invalides where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried. It was pretty cool. It took us forever to find the coffin and that's the only thing we really cared to look at.

On the way back to the hotel we picked up some little pastries at a bakery. They looked delicious but only two of them were very good.

We had a small little break in our hotel and then we went on a field trip with the group. First we visited Fontainebleu which was kind of a country getaway for the royal family. It's pretty far away from Paris though. Napoleon lived there for a while too and a lot of the rooms are done in his style. For the most part it's pretty similar to Versailles. I thought it was pretty cool. We also got to go through the apartments where the Napoleon imprisoned the pope for a few years. At the end we ate sorbet in the courtyard and a bird pooped on my head. I've never had that happen before! haha. It was way gross. Luckily there was a bathroom nearby and I got to wash it off.

AFter Fontainebleu we stopped at a grocery store and picked up some picnic food to eat at our next destination. It was the first American-sized grocery store I've been in this entire trip and we were so excited!!! We got lots of yummy stuff to make sandwiches, etc. and then we headed to our next destination.

Our fabulous grocery store

AFter having our little picnic in the woods, which totally made me feel like I was camping, we went and toured Vaux Le Vicomte. It's a gorgeous chateux and had the saddest story behind it. Nicolas Foquet, the king's minister of finance, built it and used the finest architects, designers, and artists of the day. Then he threw a huge party to gain social status so that the king would make him his minister. The king got way jealous that Foquet had nicer things than he did and so he had him arrested and put in prison for life. Then he stole all of his ideas and had all of the artists and stuff work for him to do Versailles. I thought that was so sad for Foquet. I guess that's what happens when people try to get rich and powerful, but it's way sad.

Vaux le Vicomte was way gorgeous inside and outside and we were supposed to have a candlelight tour of the grounds but it was raining so it didn't work out, sadly. It was still way pretty though.