Mini Travel Log: Paris (Catacombs), France

This is my first outing with my brand new camera, Sony A6300. A huge downgrade for me from Canon 5D Mk2 full frame DSLR to mirrorless camera. But I do think the time is ripe now to transition to mirrorless cameras. Although I did lose some dynamic range in my pictures, the gain from being able to travel light weight and shoot movie in 4K is more than enough to compensate this slight setback.

While Paris is known as the romantic city on the surface, there is a dark side of it that lies underground. This trip, I took a detour to visit the dark side which is the Catacombs. Under Paris, there are actually various networks of abandoned mines and tunnels. Starting from year 1738, bones were transferred from overflowing cemeteries to these underground tunnels. Soon over time, it grew to house almost 6 million bodies of former inhabitants of this city. The city above Paris now has 12 million people. This shows the enormous amount of bones and skeletons stored underground.

Do take note visit to the Catacombs is not recommended for children or people with faint heart. It leaves a huge impression seeing bones and skulls stacked to the brim under creepy and dark environment. There is also no wheelchair access and the only way down is through hundreds of steps. Entrance to the Catacombs is located at Denfert-Rochereau. This place actually attracts many visitors so if you arrive here and see a queue that formed a circle around the roundabout, then be prepared to queue at least 2-3 hours. You are advised to come here and queue before it opens at 10am. Take note it is closed every Mondays.

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Related link: Mini Travel Log: Paris, France (1)