Driving in Paris

Before we came to France, we had quite a number of people advise us against driving in Paris.  The reasoning behind this advice included "crazy drivers", "crazy pedestrians", "poorly marked roads", "too many roundabouts", "rare parking spaces",  etc.  Of course, my triathlete husband heard these words as a challenge.  The gauntlet was thrown and he would conquer Paris.

We set off early this morning planning to head to the Catacombs in the Montparnasse district.  This tends to be one of the most popular spots in Paris with crazy long lines---we hoped to get there early enough to be 5 of the first 200 to enter.  The drive in went pretty well although I had to close my eyes a few times.  Believe it or not, we even found free street parking close by.  We jumped out of the car and got in line for an underground adventure.  It was easy to excite the kids about an hour and a half wait because they were going to see dead bodies---lots of them.  In 1786 these skeletons were transferred from church cemeteries in Paris in order to improve the sanitary conditions and relieve congestion.  Hopefully, if the kids stopped fighting, they would make it out alive themselves.....

We started by walking through dark tunnels that felt like they could go on forever.  When we came to the skeletons, a strange smell entered our nostrils---super creepy.  Even creepier that we eventually got used to the smell.

We walked by thousands and thousands of bones and tried to imagine how the bones were transported here and then stacked so precisely to stay in place for hundreds of years.  This was definitely a fun experience for all of us and especially the kids.  I am hoping they won't have too many nightmares.

With Bobby feeling pretty sure of himself, we decided to drive across the city to Sacre Coeur and the Montmartre district.  On this leg of the trip, our GPS led us on a tour of the city.  We drove past the Louvre, around the Opera House, through a congested shopping district, past the Moulin Rouge, and almost straight up to the front of the very busy Sacre Coeur.  Okay--this is where I got really scared.  At one point the pedestrian traffic got so heavy that we almost ran over a lady who fell out of her wheelchair.  I didn't even have any pity for her, I just wanted her to get out of the way of our car before we hit her!

We found street parking again and made our way up the hill to the beautiful Basilica.

On the way back to the car, we stopped for some gelato and watched a street performer.

Overall, it was another awesome day in Paris.  Please say a prayer for the lady in the wheelchair--I am pretty sure she survived our driving, but I could be mistaken!