Tuesday 7/26/16

Dave and I went down to Maison Plisson again for pastries for breakfast and then took off for the Catacombes.  Nick was able to purchase tickets for us online yesterday so we were able to skip the long lines and go right in.  The tour was amazing, yet macabre!  The cemeteries in the city were full and were beginning to collapse into church basements so it was decided to move all of the bodies in the dead of night to the abandoned quarries.  The work was begun in 1756 and was not completed until 1814.  One of the young men in charge decided to place the bones in arrangements so that there was some order and design to them.  There are the bones of over 6 million people in the Catacombes, including some famous people as well as plague victims.  When we came back out into daylight, we texted Nick and met them at the St. Paul metro stop.  Dan was getting his hair cut nearby so we waited for him and then walked to a famous place for hot chocolate.  It poured out of the pot like melted candy bars - it was that thick and it was wonderfully delicious!  We then walked down to the Bastille Tower and hopped on a canal boat for a tour.  We went under the Bastille Tower through a 2 km. tunnel and then through a series of locks.  The ride was delightful until we came to a lock which would not open.  The tour took a short walk to the other side of the lock and were going to reboard, but since we were almost at the end of the tour, we opted to walk to the nearest metro station and head for home.  This is our last day in Paris and we are going out for a fancy dinner tonight so I will go and get ready to change.  I will put pictures on when I get a chance at home.  This has been a magical trip, it is sad that it is ending, but we have had a wonderful time with many great adventures.