Now that the big tourist sites had been covered, we decided to hit some less common sites. Our first stop was the Paris Catacombs. With the Versailles waiting experience looming in our memory, the trio set out early as they had heard that there could be a wait and no toilets for the entire time. Upon arrival (before opening), they found that the line snaked around three streets. It was obvious that other people had taken “the arrive early” advice to heart more than our travelers. We met a man from Vancouver whose wife left him waiting in line. He couldn’t hang and eventually dropped out of the line. We also discovered that the average Parisian standing in line smokes a cigarette ever 30 minutes. This meant the people behind us smoked 4 cigarettes. Do the math. Yes, we topped the Versailles wait with 2 hours. Lisa did not choose the line so we went straight into the catacombs.
Only 200 people are allowed in the Catacombs at a time. They were filled with more than 5 million people. The audio guide was especially helpful although they kept playing the funeral march which was rather disconcerting. It is 130 steps to go down and 83 tall steps back.. We were able to beat the young Italian couple up the steps which lead to high fives all around.
After our extended visit, we headed to the Opera house and lunch. In support of Lisa, Debbie had onion soup for lunch (Her first and last onion soup). They then proceeded to the Opera house. It cost money to get in which they paid but wimped out on the expensive audio headsets. Elsie says another over the top decorated building and is glad the Ally is more reserved although she picked up some decorating tips for them. From the balcony they were able to spot good shopping sites. Best of all the trio heard the street performer and street crowd sing “Country Road Take me Home”. A little odd singing John Denver on the steps of the Opera house but it is Paris.
The shopping commenced at the Opera house and continued (for those fashionistas in the know) to Zara. At this point, Debbie discovered that she is not a skinny little Zara woman but then remembered that she is bulking up like those women in the Louvre pictures so felt vindicated. After some purchases not by Debbie, the group then went on a quest for the bookstore “Shakespeare & Company”. I can’t exactly tell you why we went on this quest since we all have kindles but we did. This required going up and down a street 2 or 3 times. We never go anywhere directly. Elsie and Debbie are on a need to know basis for the street addresses. This might be because Lisa insists on using the French pronunciation to train them. So, they repeatedly ask the same question as they have no idea what Lisa is saying thus the street that they are trying to find. Let’s just say that the training is not going as well as Lisa would have hoped. We were able to find the store and it is an interesting bookstore and quite famous. We then visited the Latin quarter and more shops.
Wednesday was the last day of the museum pass so the trio decided to go to the Pompidou Museum. It is only two blocks down from our flat and we just figured that out. On top of our game. Debbie was able to walk them straight to the museum (no street address required). It is a modern art museum with excellent views of Paris. We were afraid that we were going to get kicked out of the Pompidou because Lisa kept saying that she could do that and laughing. We finished the night with dinner. Debbie had a hamburger, Lisa chicken tandoor, and Elsie finished with cold rare roast beef and mashed potatoes.
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