MORE pain au chocolat for breakfast. le sigh {1}

on september 21st, 2008 we took a detour from the stars and the seine. far away from the cappuccino and the cigarettes, miles beneath the mount of the eiffel tower. (ok, perhaps not miles...)

below the most beautiful winding streets, lined with limestone and blue-gray tiles, resides a completely different kind of boulevard. a winding byway surrounded not only by limestone, but also by the bones of 6 million parisians.  the catacombes de paris.

a faded black line painted on the ceiling was our only guide. it was frigid and dark and oddly beautiful. stack after stack after ornately-designed stack. femur on top of femur. tibia over tibia, with skulls accented here and there. spooky, but super! {2}

after the catacombs, was the musee d'orsay. gorgeous building, matched only by the art inside. FULL ROOMS of van gogh. degas. toulouse-lautrec....

you might think this was a full day, but no. we were starving! we consulted our trusty top 10 book (who had not failed us once) and decided on a belgian bar that was close. described as a "beer-lovers paradise" (oui, oui!) we set out to enjoy yummy pomme frittes and belgian brews. instead we found a shitty tourist trap that was disappointing at best. to make up for this idiotic mistake, we made sure to get some crépes sucrée from the sad, lonely crépes guy. we sometimes still wonder about that crépes guy. we hope he's found a friend.

oh, and the whole world really was talking about the election.

{footnotes}
1. says one smart lady
2. says one book