A Shopping Spree, Piles of Bones, and Crêpes Galore

On my last Saturday in Paris, I spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing and recovering from my Champagne night.  In the afternoon we decided to visit the Catacombs so a group of us headed to Denfert-Rochereau, where the entrance is.  Unfortunately, we got there at 3pm and the last entrance was at 4pm and the line was going to take about an hour and a half to get through.  So instead I took the RER up to Saint-Michel and then walked back to the Foyer, stopping along the way to shop and pick up some of the last few things I wanted to get here in Paris.

After I finished shopping, I met up with a few of the girls in my group and we went out for dinner at a restaurant by the Seine and Notre Dame.  It was surprisingly delicious for its inexpensive price.  I finally tried escargot, and also had boeuf bourguignon and chocolate mousse.

After dinner we went back to the Foyer and got ready to go out.  We went to our favorite bar, the Violon Dingue and hung out, talked, flirted with the cute bartender, and danced.  I ended up leaving around 2:30am and passed out almost right away when I got back home.

On Sunday we relaxed in the morning, but got up and headed to the catacombs around 1pm.  Unfortunately the line was still very long and we waited about two hours to get in.  By the time we got inside our numbers had dwindled from seven to four due to fact that it started raining.  And we only had one umbrella.  It wasn't too much fun.  But the catacombs were very cool.  At first you got down more than a hundred stairs to deep underground then you walk through all these tunnels for quite awhile.  Our group was all alone down there and so it was really creepy.  We kept thinking we'd just randomly turn a corner and suddenly see piles of bones.

There were also all sorts of dark gated off corners.  It was really creepy and we kept thinking we'd see a skeleton or two in one of them when we took pictures using flash.  Alas no luck there.  Probably a good thing...

Finally however, we came upon a very creepy doorway.  Almost like a dolmen.  It's in french, but basically it translates to "Stop!  This is here the Empire of Death."  Reminded me a lot of the doorway in Lord of the Rings that says something to the effect of "The Way is shut, it was made by those who are Dead and the Dead keep it."

Then we walked in.  And there were bones EVERYWHERE.

Some of them are even arranged kind of artistically.  Like this random creepy drum of bones in the middle of a room.

They just go on for miles too.  There were so many gates like the ones below that blocked off entire huge chambers of nothing but more bones and more passages.  It was like some sort Edgar Allen Poe inspired labyrinth from hell down there.  Being lost in that rabbit warren of bones would probably be the worst thing that could EVER happen to me.

I also decided to get sneaky and carve my name into the wall on the way out.  So my friend and I pulled out keys and went to work.  It's a bit sloppy, but I didn't want to get caught.  Such a great way to leave my mark on Paris!

When we finally left it was still raining so I stopped to grab dinner on the way home then just headed back to the Foyer for the night.  I skyped my mom and dad then showered and went to bed.  It wasn't my busiest weekend, but was still an exhausting one.

Today was my last full day of classes and my last day of French History class (tomorrow we have an outing).  Classes started at 9:15am and went until about 12:15pm when we got a break for lunch.  I headed down to La Croissanterie and a delicious sandwich, soda, and citron tartlette.  Despite its yumminess however, my meringue is of much higher quality than theirs.  

After lunch we had our last class of the day and then I was free!  I spent the afternoon packing and listening to music.  I figured if I packed today, I wouldn't be tempted to do it when I need to study for finals tomorrow and I'll be free on my last afternoon in Paris on Thursday to do whatever I want.

After packing I watched some True Blood then my group went out to dinner together.  Our program director had set up a dinner out for us at a very nice crêpe restaurant just off the Champs-Élysées.

At the restaurant I got a salty crêpe and a dessert crêpe.  My salty crêpe (which was actually a galette, or a thicker and browner crêpe) was filled with bacon, potatoes, cheese, and sour cream.  So delicious.

My dessert crêpe however was the pièce de résistance.  It was a thin crêpe with orange marmalade, chocolate fudge sauce, chopped nuts, and flaming Grand Marnier.

After dinner I headed back to the Foyer and showered, by then it was almost 11pm so I finished my last episode of True Blood and am now finishing my blog.  Once I finish this I'm going to get ready for bed then pass out because tomorrow is going to be another very busy day.