Today was a more relaxed day. We needed it. We have been getting up at 7:00 and driving and driving and getting home around midnight. Today, we met some friends (the girls' italian teacher and her french husband) at a cafe in front of the Louvre for cafe, the, and croissants. It was quite lovely! We spoke a bit of French, a bit of Italian, and lots of English. From there we caught the metro and toured the Marmottan museum that holds a collection of Monet's works from his caricatures through his water lillies. It was fun to see the paintings of Giverny and Rouen since we have now visited both. After that we traveled to the Catacombs where we traveled 35 meters below the surface and down 83 steps to see the anonymous bones of 6 million parisians. In 1785, the revolutionary government of Paris decided to improve sanitary conditions by removing the city cemeteries to an official ossuary. They decided on the underground tunnels that had been created when the area was mined for limestone. For decades, priests led processions of black-veiled bone laden carts to the quarries where the bones were stacked into piles five feet high and as much as 80 feet deep behind walls of neatly stacked skulls and tibia. It was quite interesting although a bit creepy. We stopped for a quick treat (la glace et les crepes) and headed home on the RER and back to our villa where we had a homemade dinner. Nice relaxing day. Tomorrow evening we head to Venice on an overnight train. No plans yet for the day time.
