Don't Trust the Weather Network

Thursday:
Well, Thursday was started with fresh pastries from the bakery, chocolate twisted things for Eric & me, raisin rolls from mom & Annette, and a pomme chaud for dad.

After our breakfast we grabbed bikes from the handy Velib station the next street over, and road to the catacombs. We had to stand in line for about an hour and a half. Although it was worth the wait because we got free entertainment from a homeless man. He started by calling a passed out homeless man a crocodile, and talking about how he was going to have a baby, then before we were allowed in he started singing opera. He surprised both mom and I because he could actually sing very well - although he did sound like a girl.

"People with queasy stomachs or people who are impressionable SHOULD NOT ENTER!"
Yes - that sign did make me a little nervous. The beginning was ok, no dead people, just lots of stairs, although surprisingly this time we went down first. Mom counted a grand total of 130 stairs going down. The first couple rooms were the history of the limestone quarries (catacombs). Then we started a walk through the basement of Paris. Walking through was very cool, I thought because you could see how the architecture varied from year to year. After walking for a while I said "I haven't seen any dead people yet. Where are they all?" And of course right after that was the room that was supposed to help prepare you for seeing the dead bodies, I'm assuming. SIX MILLION PEOPLE! Walking into the first passage with the bodies was very surprising, instead of seeing full bodies laying with some sort of this is so-and-so. The skulls and larger bones were stacked to make a pattern. This is the way the rest of the bodies were layed out as well. Surprisingly we all made it through without being at all scared and even took some time to study a fell skulls that look like there were bullet wounds in the forehead, execution style. The stairs back up to street level were much different than the stairs down, although there were only 83 they were much further apart, slippery, and steep.

From the catacombs we went off to find park to eat lunch, yes great planning. We enjoyed homemade sandwiches on cibatta bread (YUM) in a nice quiet(?) park before splitting up.

Annette and Eric went off to do touristy things while mom, dad and I went back to the apartment and rested for the evening events. Although while we were at home we had time to play cards, sleep, shop, and eat a lovely home cooked dinner :).

We had planned to meet Annette and Eric at the Eiffel Tower at 10 so we could go up to the top. Annette was there waiting for us and Eric was already in line when we arrived. We waited together in line and discussed what we each had done that day. We were in the middle of a conversation when mom and Annette saw 2 flashes of lightning. No one else saw it and I just hoped that it was in their imaginations. Not long after there was another strike that I passed off as a camera flashing. But after that it wouldn't stop. we were still far back in the line and started getting worried that they wouldn't let us up, even though it wasn't raining. We waited in line more, and were almost at the front, or well very close when the wind suddenly picked up and it POURED rain! When the rain and wind started many people ran for their lives away from the tower. We ever saw large, heavy metal gates being blown over and were relieved that everyone who was there had run off. By the time this all happened we were totally soaked - but we can't forget daddy's efforts to keep us dry; he stood with his back to the wind while the rest of us huddled around him, he also tried to give us his hat but by that time there was nothing that could be done to stop us from getting wet. Most people had left the lines by this time, both in front and behind us, so we were maybe 5 or 6 people from the desk when WHAM! it's closed. All because of a storm we got that was supposed to happen Tuesday. Yes we were very disappointed that we didn't make it up, but we still had a good time and many stories to tell. When we were leaving we saw a little sandwich shop packed with people trying to get out of the rain, there were so many people in it they couldn't move around. By the time we left the Eiffel tower and were walking back to the subway the rain had stopped and the wind had died down. The subway was packed with people leaving the Eiffel tower and mom saw a lady use the same ticket maybe 6 times in a row to get her family on the subway (apparently that's ok to do since the tickets can be reused if it has been less that two hours.)

The train home was busy. I feel kind of bad for the people on the train before because most people who got on were soaked. There was almost no room to stand because some people think that when the train is busy it's ok to wrap yourself around a pole, one of the only places for people to hold onto. Dad ended up elbowing a man in the face because the man was sitting and the train stopped making dad fall forward into him. Oops. The man ended up holding his face the rest of the ride while dad tried to apologize. (Did we mention that Annette said from a distance it looked like he was smashed?)

We came back to the apartment and even though it was almost 11 no one was really tired or wanted to sleep, especially since the storm had picked up again. Since our favourite convenient store was closed, along with the crape place we stayed in and we all (except for Eric) played cards.

By: Samantha :)

ps. yes grandma there is pork here, and I have eaten some almost everyday mostly in my ham and cheese paninis. But we had sausages one night and bacon one day in the morning. But I do love my pork and ham and beans was the one thing I asked mom for when we go home.