Paris Day Six and Seven: Louvre, Catacombs, Moulin Rouge, and Travel Home

On our final full day in Paris, we started by navigating some home repair. Prior to our stay, there had been a leak in the roof. The owner gave us a discount if we didn’t mind letting the contractors in to fix the damage during our stay. We did not mind, but they showed up early, and I had to figure out how to tell them we’d be out by 9:30. I muddled through using Google Translate.

That morning, we had tickets to the Louvre. Amy had discovered the “secret” entrance. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t the main entrance and it was certainly less crowded. Unlike Versailles where I hadn’t particularly expected crowds, I had heard some horror stories about crowds at the Louvre.

We must have caught the place on a good day because the crowds were not oppressive. Even the line to the Mona Lisa was manageable. As more than one person has observed, the level of attention given to the Mona Lisa probably does a disservice to many of the other attractions at the Louvre. In the same room, on the wall opposite the Mona Lisa, is a painting of the Wedding Feast of Cana by Paolo Veronese. Like I’ve said before, I don’t know art, but this thing is very big, there is a lot going on, and everyone in the room is looking the other way at the more famous painting. It’s the Jan to the Mona Lisa’s Marcia.

At one point, we were looking at a bust of Ptolemy. Harper asked, “like the mathematician?” I explained that Ptolemy had been one of Alexander’s generals and had ruled Egypt after his death. There had been a lot of historical figures with that name, but I couldn’t say whether the mathematician and the general were related somehow. Turns out that it wasn’t exactly an uncommon name, but I hadn’t appreciated that Cleopatra had been a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, though it makes perfect sense.

We put in several hours, but eventually we got tired. When we found ourselves trudging through a blur of paintings, pottery, and stone, we decided to call it good enough. We hadn’t properly scheduled lunch. Hungry and tired isn’t a great combination for decision making. So, we had difficulty picking a place to eat. Eventually, we went with a Spanish tapas restaurant called Les Pietons. It was o.k. but not great. I will say, the Estrella Galicia beer really hit the spot. I’m not sure if I had had that before.

After a bit of rest back at the apartment, we headed to our next destination – the Catacombs of Paris. This was obviously Harper’s choice, and it was a good time. While waiting in line, we met a family from Bloomington, Indiana. I was wearing my IU sweatshirt and one of the kids was very excited about seeing a fellow Hoosier in Paris.

The Catacombs are repurposed limestone mines used to deal with Paris’ overflowing cemeteries.  In the late 18^th century, it seems human remains from the cemeteries were spilling into adjacent basements. Ultimately, Wikipedia tells me, the Catacombs have received the remains of more than six million people. I’m not sure what I expected, but the bones are very neatly stacked. Mostly skulls and limbs. I don’t think I saw many rib cages, for example.

Across the street from the entrance was a café called “the Indiana.” So, of course we had to stop for a drink. I met a guy from Clarksville. Going with the theme, I had an “Indiana IPA.” The girls had a fruity drink they seemed to enjoy quite a bit. After our drinks, we headed up the street to I Grappoli for dinner where we split a pizza and some mozzarella sticks. For dessert, I had a strawberry sorbet. Amy and Harper had something like a chocolate lava cake.

The evening was still young, so we took the train to see the Moulin Rouge. We didn’t have any plans on going in, but it’s iconic. In retrospect, the train ride was a little long for what we did there. We saw the outside, took a few pictures, and then Amy and Harper went into the nearby Five Guys to use their bathroom. A staff member kind of gave them the stink eye for using the restroom without ordering any food but let them go. There were a lot of sex shops in the vicinity which weren’t very appealing for our family outing. So, after that brief interlude, we hopped on the train back to the apartment and called it a night.

The next morning, we got a taxi to Charles DeGaulle airport much earlier than, as it turned out, we needed. Even though Harper and I got up early, Amy was up even earlier – catching the end of the IU/Penn State game in the Big Ten tournament. IU won, and she saw Cole!

We had heard horror stories about getting to the airport, but traffic was light. Security there seems to be more of a pod system – at least for our gate. The security area we passed through served only a limited number of gates, so it was empty when we arrived. Which was good because Amy’s bags got a proctology exam. Maybe the staff was bored, maybe the conditioner really was a big security threat. In any event, they spent some time with her bags but let us through with lots of time to spare.

The flight to Copenhagen was uneventful. At the airport, the lounge available to (the inaptly named) Priority Pass members was closed because they prioritized other people who used the lounge. We thought about waiting for it to open to us, but ultimately just decided to head to the gate. There really weren’t many food options in that area of the airport. I picked up some snacks from a 7/11.

The flight to Chicago was about 9 hours. Harper and I were in a 2 seat section of the row. Amy was the odd man out. Her seatmate Jack was very chatty. He was a Vanderbilt student who had been in London for business school of some sort. Customs was a breeze. We used the mobile passport line and we went through it in less than 10 minutes. On the way home, Amy streamed IU’s second round of the Big Ten tournament for us to listen to. Nebraska just had our number this year and the game got away from Hoosiers. Took us about 3 hours from landing in O’Hare to get home, which is awfully fast. It was 21 hours door-to-door. The dogs were happy to see us!

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.