re: #357 Walter L. Newton

DO you know what the “Catacombs” of Paris actually are?

The main entrance is just down the street from where I live. The whole neighborhood is build on top of them. When real estate became valuable enough to empty the medieval Saint Innocents cemetery in the center of Paris in the 19th century, the remains (millions of them) were transfered to the underground limestone quarries that fan out from Denfert-Rochereau. The workers constructed a chapel and all sorts of somewhat macabre references to La Mort. It really is a fascinating experience - on the condition of not being afraid of being way underground and surrounded by piles of skulls and bones, as neatly arranged as in an old-fashioned grocery store.