Day 43 ~ …But With a Whimper

Well we’ve been moping for like three days about how sad we are that our trip is over, and it’s time to go home. Don’t get us wrong, home is wonderful and there’s a lot of cool stuff going on there, but this trip has been amazing. Today started off well, but the day deteriorated pretty badly. It’s a good reminder that not every day in Europe is bistro dining and gazing at cathedrals.

We had a good day at the Catacombs of Paris. In the late 1700s, the city was suffering from huge sinkholes and building collapses caused by centuries of underground rock quarrying, so they decided to fill in the mines. Also around then, they discovered that it would be safer not to leave human remains so close to where everyone lived, so they looked for a place to bury centuries of bones. These two trends led them to relocate the bones of 6 million Parisians from neighborhood cemeteries to the limestone quarries underground. It was not lost on us that October is an especially on-theme time to visit.

They built haunting sculptures of the bones, and lined the passageways with reflections on death by famous thinkers and writers. It’s a very moving tribute to the deceased and to how brief life is. Perhaps my favorite was one writer from the era of the French Revolution who referred to the Catacombs as the “true temple of equality.” Popes and paupers, the pinnacle of society or the humblest old man, everyone here is in this hallowed place together. And nearly all of them are forgotten.

We had a down to earth lunch of crepes by the river Seine, two very French things which we’ve enjoyed so much. Hard to think it was our last meal there.

Then we went to the Jardine des Plantes, which, you will never believe, is a garden of plants. This was surprisingly large, and unsurprisingly gorgeous, with different areas reflecting France’s many different passions for plants. There were areas for appreciating trees, and areas that were all planted flowers, there was a maze, and there were built environments like two massive hothouses, a zoo and a museum of evolution. And they had one very appealing and large garden that actually reminded me a lot of the demonstration garden my mom works in where they do research for the Oregon State University (no vegetables, just flowers and other plants).

Paris has a lot of rooftop bars, and we’d hardly seen any of them, and that sounded like a fittingly majestic finale for Paris and our whole Europe trip. We put on fancy duds (as fancy as we’d brought with us, anyway), and started walking. And walked. And walked. This place was impossible to find. We were about to give up, found it, and made it through the bouncer’s fashion assessment. When we got up there, we were pretty disappointed. It was quite a low roof, surrounded by taller buildings. It did have commanding views of the river, but we’ve been enjoying views of the river for free three minutes from our apartment. We had a quick drink, and moved on.

We picked up some warming table Chinese food takeout that was surprisingly good. And really, that’s our day. That’s our trip. That’s everything we will really do in Europe on this trip. We’ll let you know how the ride home goes tomorrow.