Paris Day 5

The Thursday of our trip, Christopher left in the morning to go do wedding things with Jeremy, and Katie, Fuzzy and I went for a run. Fuzzy ran every day of our trip (but Monday), and Katie was looking forward to running in a place in which it would be normal for her to run (since customs in Tanzania are different than our norm.) I wasn't REALLY up for a run--I like my vacations to be about lolling about and doing nothing, but my healthy relatives convinced me that we needed to go. The 3 of us ran together and it was fun but hard. I only had about 2 miles in me, and plus, I didn't want to hurt my tattoo. So we ran for a bit, and then walked back. As we were heading back to the apartment, a transient man on the street yelled out to us in the hardest American accent "Good MOR-NING. Good BYE-EE." We now say that all the time.

One thing that we wanted to do was go to the Catacombs, or l'Ossuaire Municipal, which is home to millions of stacked bones. Before we left for the trip, my mom's one piece of advice was "Well, don't get lost in the catacombs." That made me laugh a LOT.

So we met up with Christopher, who arrived at exactly the same time we did (an amazing feat, since none of us were using cell phones), and we got in line. The line was epic. Only a small number of people are allowed in at any given time, so the line sprawled around this one area, and barely moved. We waited for--wait for it--3 hours. Luckily, there was a cafe near by, so we were able to get coffees and sandwiches for our wait.Oh, did I mention that 2.5 hours of that was in the rain? Luckily, I had an umbrella and we all had rain coats/ponchos (it rained every day). However, my thighs got wet. Unfortunately, the dress I wore became see-through when it got wet, so some unsuspecting patrons got a free peep show. 

After the summer rain, Fuzzy's beard sprouted a flower!

K&C! Cuties!

Fz and me!

You betta werk.

You have to walk a long way to get to the bones. They advise not entering if you are faint of heart, have anxiety or claustrophobia. If you are squeamish about skulls and femurs, maybe skip the next few photos.

Here is the empire of the dead. Spoooky.

That's a lot of bones. The remains of 6 million people.

It was a sacred space.

Oof.

It's interesting to me how shocking it is at first, but then you become used to it and desensitized to exactly what you are looking at. Those are real human skulls, people. But you know, no big woop. Oh, more skulls? 2km of skulls and thighs? Yawn.

Each bone wall was super thick. Just piled with bones.

After that, we did a little shopping, and ate some food. We headed back to the apartment to freshen up and get ready for the rehearsal dinner. We had a lovely walk there, and ate some delicious food and met some amazing people--not that I am surprised that Jeremy would have amazing friends. Oh, and the food was sooooooo gooooooood.

Jeremy, Jan, and a distinctive bald head.

Our table-mates Madeline and Josh...

...and Hunter and Layla.

And then these dorks.

Katie and Christopher.  I love these guys so much. I miss them tremendously. I am seriously so amazingly blessed that I got to have this time with them. Every moment was a treasure.

Brothers. (Though the outer two are biological, the Reid family has never not considered the Muchas/Brudevolds family.) I hadn't seen Jason (on the left) since I was a kid. It was great reconnecting.

So many good conversations. Jason's wife Sandy was the biggest sweetheart ever.

(Sidenote: I hadn't worn that dress in years. It seemed very Parisian to me. I think it will go back in the rotation.)

From there, the fellas went out for a guys night, and the ladies for a ladies night. Katie and I were exhausted (and a little tipsy), so we decided to bow out and head back to the apartment. We had a great time walking and exploring and talking together, and when we got back to the house, we had more wine. I showed Katie a video (remember that, Katie?) And I ate a lot of candy. Smart idea for 1am? It seemed so. The guys were out til late-ish, and were in jaunty moods when they got back. I should know, cause they woke me up and wanted to tell me all about the evening, neverminding that I HAD BEEN ASLEEP, and Christopher proceeded to dance in my bedroom doorway. At the time, this was annoying and I had no patience for it, but in hindsight, it was really sweet. He used to do this CONSTANTLY when we were growing up, and he loved keeping me from going to sleep when we were kids/teenagers and our rooms were adjoined. So it was just like old times. I love my brother so much.

End of day 5!