Statue of Liberty

Las Vegas has an Eiffel tower, and a Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is located at the New York New York hotel, not with the Eiffel tower and L'Arc de Triomphe, which would also have been reasonable.

Leaving Paris

After seeing the catacombs and the opera house, I bought myself a French baguette with some salami and went to the airport.

Once at the airport it was time for another culture shock. I found the check-in counters for my airline, but there was no one there (at least no one working, there were other people waiting to check in). There was a sign saying that the counter would be open for check-in after 18:00. In Japan, I would expect the counter to be open at any time the airport is open, so it was surprising.

I waited around for a while and was then allowed to check in. The French woman checking me in was very helpful and I got a good seat.

Later, there was another line to get into the airplane. I was wearing a shirt that says 日本人ではありません ("I am not Japanese"), so people also waiting in line kept pointing at me and saying to their friends things like: "Look, that guy has a shirt that says he is not Japanese". There was even one girl using her cell phone to tell someone on the other end of the phone call about me and my t-shirt, haha.

The old couple standing in front of me in line also talked about my shirt, so I said: "So as not to be mistaken for a Japanese person" to them in Japanese. They were very surprised that I could understand what they were saying, and that I could say things to them that they understood. That it is surprising that someone flying to Japan can speak Japanese is surprising to me, but this happens all the time. The husband said that he thought the risk of me being mistaken for Japanese without this t-shirt was pretty much exactly zero, but that he gets mistaken for being Chinese all the time (when in Europe) so a similar t-shirt might be useful for him.

Paris opera house

On my way to the airport, I also stopped by the old Paris opera house. This is the one that is the setting of the Phantom of the Opera. Now there is a new opera house used for actual opera performances.

Impressive staircase

Impressive arches

Selfie in the stairs

Having my picture taken in the stairs

Nice view

I walked around in most parts of the opera house, but I did not have that much time. The train station that I had planned to use to get to the airport was still not open, so I had to take some roundabout route which would take more time than I had hoped, and I had spent three hours longer at the catacombs than I had expected.

The loges

View from one of the loges

The stage

Colorful ceiling and chandelier

The opera house was very beautiful, of course. The painted ceilings, the marble staircases, etc. were great. The view was nice too. There were also showcasings of costumes from some of the famous opera performances. There was even a special exhibit on the Swedish Ballet, a ballet company that was famous in Paris in the early 1920-ies.

Hallway finally almost empty of tourist groups

Me being a tourist in the hallway

The Swedish Ballet, 1920 to 1925, special exhibit

Swedish Ballet, photos

Swedish Ballet, costumes

Costume from famous performance

Valkyrie armor with huge nipples

Nice looking dress from another show

Ballerina lamps on sale in the gift shop

The catacombs of Paris: Three hours of waiting and then great fun

My flight back to Japan did not leave until 21:00, so I had almost one whole day to do some more sightseeing. I decided to go to the catacombs of Paris, that I had never seen before. I got there early in the morning (they do not open until 9:00, so I was not there earlier than that, though) but when I got out of the station I immediately noticed what looked like a fairly long line.

A small part of the long line to the catacombs

The 1 hour mark

Since the catacombs are located in a part of the city where there is nothing else of interest, I figured this was the line I wanted to be in and lined up behind the rest of the tourists. The line seemed to move at a fairly good pace, so I figured it would not be as bad as the day outside Versailles. After standing in line for 30 minutes or so, I came up to a tree where there was a notice saying: "Roughly two hours of waiting from here"... Great.

A guy doing guitar karaoke for the people waiting in line

Information to read while waiting

At first, I was in the shades of some trees, but it turned out the line was going around the block completely, and most of the time I was waiting I was in the scorching sun. It was hot and unpleasant. People in front of me had been clever enough to bring books to read while waiting. I ended up with a very red suntan, again.

The start of the catacombs was just hundreds of meters of narrow (low ceilings too) tunnels to walk around all alone in.

After entering the catacombs, it was only 14 degrees and very cool and nice. At first, there were very long, narrow, dark corridors to walk around all alone in. Very low ceilings even for me (and I am not tall). After a few hundred meters of labyrinth style tunnels (though they have been barred off so you can only walk one way and cannot get lost), there were some places where there were models carved into the rock. Very nice.

Old models carved into the rock in various places.

There was also a small exhibit area with some fossils, and there were rooms and parts of the tunnels with different designs and colors.

Water

Fancy looking part of the catacombs

They have found lots of fossils in the catacombs.

Then, the main event started. There were kilometers and kilometers of skulls and bones piled up artistically. There were remains from people who died in the 17-hundreds and in the 18-hundreds, with markings on the walls from time to time detailing from where and when this set of bones had come. This part was amazing, and worth the long wait.

The main goal: kilometers and kilometers of human remains stacked in artistic ways.

After the many kilometers of bones ended, there were some more rooms with high ceilings, and then finally a very narrow and very long stairway leading out. Once out, it was difficult to spot anything touristy at all. No other tourists, no signs, nothing. And it was a bit difficult to tell where the heck you were. I saw a bigger road a way off, and walked out there to get a grip on where I had emerged.

Some skulls are in worse shape than others

There was a lot of water dripping into the catacombs, so I was a bit wet when I got out. The shoes are also pretty muddy.

When I took photos of myself with my camera, the results were mostly sharp...

When I asked other tourists to take photos for me, the results were mostly not sharp...

Sharp

Not sharp

There is a lot of water dripping down, so the floor was wet and muddy, and from time to time your hair or camera became wet too.

Nearing the exit, there were very high parts (11 meters to the ceiling, in one place) too.

The last part is a very narrow, very steep, and very long flight of stairs.

Wet and muddy, slightly slippery stairs

Everyone comes out with shoes that are dirty, and a good way to spot the exit is this dirt.

In fact, that may be the only way to notice the exit from the catacombs. This exit (center of the photo) is very unremarkable, and it is located very far from the entrance.