We had a 9:30am tour. This doesn't make for a restful/easy morning.... so we got up and headed to the tour meeting spot. There wasn't a lot of time to really "wander." I think that if we were to spend a week here, we could do the whole "wander" thing.. but on two days with tours and things to see? NOPE!! So - train for 1/2 hour to get to the tower, walking 15 more minutes to get to the meeting spot.
Waiting in line for the tour - note that Angela is holding her Grandpa Ashwood's old point and shoot camera - I'm going to be curious to see how those turn out!
Photo's from the 2nd deck!
They chose this pose... note the clouds and winter dressed people and MY kids not really dressed for weather - silly girls. They will know next year to have a variety of outerwear to layer and remove as needed.
And the rain is rolling in!!! Blustery and rain drops are starting!!
Wind and rain being blow into the lines... there are quite a few not dressed for the weather. I had little heat leaches coming into my jacket a few times - ha!
Summit - somewhere I didn't make it to back in the 90's when I came with S. We did the walk up and honestly I don't know that we actually climbed to the 2nd deck or if we just made it to the first. I DO remember shooting a paper plane off the tower and watching in land in a neighborhood close by. That was a fun memory to relive... I didn't toss a plane off however... thought about it, but didn't!
You can actually see one of the many cells dropping rain in the distance in quite a few of these shots!
Notre Dame is somewhere right over their heads... it was blocked off, you can't access the island and I'm told there is quite a bit of scaffolding around the place... so we opted to NOT go to try and see it... that and not a whole lot of extra time regardless!
Nice group shot at the Summit. I honestly don't know that the difference was worth it. It is quite a ride to the top, but not sure it made that much difference in the view itself. The only "room" you could see from the "living quarters" that were up there in the past was a dummied up area that probably wasn't a good representation of what was really up there at the time... there WAS a restroom up there. I did debate peeing at the top of the tower as I was quite proud to have done that in Dubai and the Burj Al Khalifa. ha!
SO after all the rain and bluster, we get to the bottom and there are BLUE skies!!! Well, fine! ha!
We walked to a local cafe to eat some "brunch/lunch"... this time Liz got the onion soup and Angela and I got an omelet. Butch got a baguette and Alex got a hamburger. Neither of those seemed quite photo worthy - ha!
One of the other WEIRD things that we noted was the subway had real rubber wheels instead of train wheels on the outer runs. This is the train that will take us BACK out to the Catacombs for try to get in day two.
While we're standing there in line waiting for the Catacombs I look over and look closer at the roofline of the building on the left...
Look closer! There is a free standing ladder... there is a rung ladder on the building.... but that freestanding ladder cracks me up. I think - this is just conjecture, that that one is for the exhaust/smoke stack to the right...
THIS time we got in! And boy was it interesting...we got in, climbed down 7 flights of stairs in a tight spiral... down, down, down, down. I'm starting to think "sh*T, I'll have to climb back OUT of here!!" ... but it's too late now... and I can go slow, right? I had already had a slight incident where I had to duck across the street for an emergency potty stop earlier before going in, but I had taken an Lomotil to hopefully get me back under "control" after my purge the night prior... and for the most part it did work and kept me in control for the most part - whewh Good to know that the drugs will help and working on just how much to take to not stop things up too much (I know, I know, quit with the potty talk, but hey, this is my journal of sorts and a glimpse into my world as it is)
I won't give a blow by blow, you can read the plaques and I apologize as the lighting was "iffy" at best in some spots and my concentration was iffy the whole time - ha!
We walked and walked and walked... with only seeing the plaques and no bones... and really the thought was there "what if the lights go out..." but in reality there were cell phones on each of us, so we would have found our way out eventually... but it was a hike and a half before actually getting into the catacombs proper.
kinda creepy... and those floors had me watching my feet a ...lot as we all know my balance and footwork is more than iffy most days. the day prior in the museum by the end of the day I had to hold the rails for fear of a misstep. It was no different in here!
these bottles were mortarted into place... but there was no explanation anywhere around them... weird.
These ceilings were LOW at times as well - I had to put my hand up more times than not just to assure myself that I wasn't going to knock myself out!
Note the mold...
Better representation of how the catacombs are laid out... they are all over!!
And now we are in the proper catacombs that are weirdly entrancing as well as weirdly cool.. not not really creepy at all.
I'm AMAZED at how tightly packed they have those femurs.
It was amazing. No better way to describe it.
Calcium deposit on the edge of this skull....
Oldest one we saw.... how amazing is that timeline?
The lights down here are letting mosses grow in the depths.... interesting....
Drama look? ha!
Water dripping from the ceiling... wondering where this water is coming from? hum... sewer? hum.. gag... let's hope it's JUST ground water since we have had a lot of rain lately!
LOOK there is daylight above... not sure where this manhole goes... but there is light up there!!!
And with that and climbing some 7 floors we're back in daylight and making our way back to the shopping districts and train station.
The total of our efforts for the day... the day prior was just as intense. I need a vacation from my vacation - ha!
