#and the swagging through the doors entrance is extremELY COOL

[idlesuperstar]

Conrad Veidt as Captain Hardt in The Spy In Black [Powell & Pressburger, 1939]

[okaerina]

𖥻 ( 尤も ) HYPE BOY ! — @/NMR ⋆ ࣪

syn ; in which your crush declares his love for you !

you enter your class with a bright smile plastered on your face. It was truly a wonder why suddenly you were so enthusiastic about coming to school. well it all started in last year when a cute and cool transfer student from japan became your classmate. he's been popular ever since he stepped foot in this school. both senior and junior girls will fawn over him, boys will die to befriend him or either be like him. his popularity rose up more after he joined the dance and basketball club and drastically secured his position as the ace. nishimura riki he was. soon you also found yourself extremely interested in him.

today was a basketball match and you were gonna cheer for ni-ki to the fullest. not to mention the fact that you've literally spent the whole night praying for his victory. the ringing of the bell snaps you out of your daydream as your eyes fall on the entrance of your classroom and there he is, nishimura riki in all his glory entering the classroom with his signature swag as the girls and boys flee towards him but amidst of all his eyes meet with yours as you quickly avert your gaze down from the embarrassment that you just got caught gawking at him. but you fail to notice the adorning smirk lingering on his plump lips as a light pink hue decorates his bread cheeks.

time flies faster than ever with you constantly stealing glances at ni-ki and getting caught oh so embarrassingly. but you can't stop i mean how are you supposed to? when he looks so dreamy? everyone quickly rushes towards to the school's basketball court as the game's about to start in a while. you rushed to take a seat at the front row where the view is nice with your bestie tailing behind you. the game starts and your nervousness takes over you as if you were the one playing on field. but your anxiety quickly subsides as you take a notice of the dirty blonde mullet's charming smile. the rest of the game was you cheering at the top of your lungs for ni-ki. ni-ki successfully does the last dunk as the victory of ni-ki's team is announced through the microphones. everyone breaks out in a chaos of celebration and some in shame of loss. you were most definitely on the celebration's side.

you rush out your way towards the field where ni-ki is to congratulate him with a beverage in your hand but suddenly you halt in your footsteps not daring to take step forward towards him. there ni-ki stands with girls surrounding him like beehive and suddenly you feel so small and meek compared to them.

does he even know who you are ? do you even have any chance ? will he ever be yours ?

wary questions like this filled your head afterall you weren't the best. you were insecure. but deep inside you always believe your love will reach him and that you'll have your happy ending with him. ni-ki excuses himself from the girls as he takes notice of your zoned out figure and marches towards you. "boo !" he exclaims as you let out a squeak. all he does is laugh at your cute expression and you cannot help but blush at how melodious his laugh sounds. "sorry, btw is thar for me ?" he chirps pointing at the beverage can in your hand. "y-yes!" you reply as you shove that in his hands. he happily mutters out a thanks and proceeds on chugging down the beverage. you take this as a chance to admire his beauty. the way he closes his eyes, his lips attached on the can, his perfect side profile and his prominent adams apple that bobs up and down as he drinks the beverage. seriously how can someone drink so handsomely ?

your quickly pulled out of your lovesick thoughts as ni-ki pulls you by your hands in a empty classroom and that's when you notice your probably gonna die from heart attack caused by him. he locks the classroom door and steps towards you. you notice the way his growing muscles highlight by the sleeveless jersey he's wearing with quarter high jersey pants that compliment his long slender legs. he comes closer, pining your hands on both sides of your head, your back pressed against the blackboard. his face so close to yours you can easily count each and every moles and blemishes. his sweat drenched long hair sticking at the back of his neck as long strands of wet hair fall over his eyes. they tickle your face from the close proximity. his plump lips just few centimetres away from you, your eyes travel from his lips to the mole decorated right under the corner of his lips as you gulp out of nervousness. "did you think I wouldn't notice, princess?" the nickname makes your knees wobble and suddenly you are unable to utter out words as he continues. "it might not be the best occasion but I couldn't control myself anymore y/n. I love you, I really do, I've been in love with you for so long." you couldn't believe what was happening right now. is this a dream ? "I-I love you too" , you reply with a shy smile and blush painting your cheeks. before you can say another word you feel a pair of soft plump lips crash on yours. you flutter your eyes shut in contentment and kiss back. the kiss was so passionate and filled with love.you both broke apart as you two smile resting each other's foreheads together.

"i love you my chemical, hype boy ! "

© aengello / 2023

taglist ; @solarwoniii @shiningstar-byulxx @wtfhyuck @ichiibunztwt

[wanderbreadsworld]

Misfits Apocalypse AU Ch. 9

Life at Kryoz's house was becoming semi-normal. All the boys were slowly getting used to being so close to one another, even if it was kinda uncomfortable. They dealt with the occasional zombies, but those situations were completely under the boy's control.

Because of the cramped nature of the house, Jay and Mason could often be found walking around the neighborhood, exploring the abandoned houses. There was a house at the end of the street that was their favorite. It was, in their opinion, the coolest looking one, on the inside and out.

Jay and Mason had left the house after scarfing down their food so they can get out of that cramped house, and explore their favorite house at the end of the street.

"Man it's good to be out of there." Mason sighed, taking a deep breath of fresh air as he looked up at the sky. Jay smiled as he took a deep breath himself. He loved his friends, but the house was cramped, and it was starting to bother him and make him feel claustrophobic.

They opened the door to their house and closed it behind them. They had boarded up all the extra entrances and exits to keep zombies from getting in. Jay had managed to find a working radio in the dilapidated house, and the two boys would lay in their favorite spot in the house, the lovely sun room attached to the back of the house, and listened to the radio for hours.

The sun room was starting to get overgrown with plants, and during every hour of the day, the light in shining into the room was golden, casting everything in a light, warm glow.

Jay had laid down on the couch, and started to fall asleep on his stomach, his arm dangling off the edge of the couch. Mason was laying on the floor and fiddling with his baseball bat, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about anything and everything that came to mind. He perked up when he heard a bark in the distance. He heard the bark again.

Mason sat up, looking around him to try and find out where the barking was coming from. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, all he knew was it was getting closer.

Looking out into the yard Mason watched the fence, that's when he spotted a hole in the side of the fence. A dog barreled through a hole in the bottom of the fence, causing Mason to shoot up and wield his bat. The sound of the dog and Mason jumping up startled Jay awake. He looked around frantically, looking to see what was happening. The dog saw Mason in the sun room, and ran up to the wall, jumping up on the wall to try and get in. Scraping sounds cam from the dog's nails as it tried. He didn't look aggressive, he was just excited to see people. Mason cautiously moved to the door that lead to the backyard. He looked back at Jay, who gave Mason a look of confusion, but gave a little nod. Jay gripped his weapon tightly, prepared to fight the dog off if it attacked Mason. Mason reached for the handle, and braced himself for an attack.

He opened the door and the dog darted through, running into the sunroom and up to Jay. He pulled his legs up onto the couch and used his bat to try and shield himself from the dog.

The dog rushed up to Jay and sniffed his legs. Jay giggled as the dog put his front paws on the couch and tried to lick Jay.

"Get down boy. Come on." Jay laughed, trying to push the dog away from his face. Mason closed the sun room door and went to crouch down on the floor next to the dog. The dog quickly lost interest in Jay and almost tackled Mason to the ground, spinning around in his lap, trying to lick his face.

"Oh my god. You're a cute cunt. Awww. Look at you." Mason giggled as the dog licked his jaw, trying to get more of his attention. Mason pet the dog, scratching it's ears and rubbed it's belly.

Mason looked to Jay with a light in his eyes that was similar to, if not exactly, a child like glee.

"Jay, we should take him home!" Mason exclaimed. The dog rolled over onto his feet, wanting belly rubs, which Mason happily provided.

"I don't think we should. They wouldn't be happy." Jay replied, a sad look on his face. He really wanted to take the dog home, but he knew it would be another mouth to feed, and dogs aren't known to be the quietest animals. But, then again, the Misfits aren't quiet either.

Mason thought for a moment, completely quiet as he thought of a plan to bring the dog home. He looked up at Jay.

"What if, we just walk home. If the dog follows us, then he follows us. We didn't mean to take him home, he followed us." He scanned Jay's face, waiting for a response.

"Mason, I don't-, I don't think." Jay stopped. He really did want to take the dog home, so why not try this idea. He knew the others weren't going fall for it, but it was worth a shot.

Jay nodded, making Mason smile. Mason jumped up and picked up his bat.

"Come one, we're going home." Mason told the dog, giving it's head another pat. Jay got up to follow Mason, who was practically running to the front door of the house, the dog close behind him.

"Now, you have to walk a ways behind us. Gotta make it look like you followed us." Mason told the dog, closing the door after the dog and Jay left.

Both boys started their short walk back home, the dog not far behind. They came up to the house and knocked on the front door.

Racc opened the door for the two of them, letting them into the house. Jay kept the door open to let the dog slip into the house. Mason tried to walk with the dog to the room him and Jay were sharing. It was way past Mason's time to go to bed anyway, it was almost noon.

Mason laid down in their room with the dog, telling Jay not to let anyone in the room. Not even for emergencies.

Everything was quiet the rest of the day... until Swagger saw that Mason had brought a dog into the house. Swagger had opened the door to check on Mason to wake him up, only to see Mason on the bed with a furry creature licking his face excitedly.

"MASON WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" Swagger yelled as he saw the dog, startling Mason awake. Swagger turned the light on and burst into the room, making the dog growl as he stood over Mason, protecting him.

"Mason, why is there a damn dog in the house?!" Swagger pointed to the dog, who was still standing over Mason.

"This is a dog. Brought him home. His name's Goku." Mason mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"You NAMED IT?! We never agreed on a dog. It's only going to take up space! It's another mouth to feed!" Swagger's face was turning red as his voice got louder. Mason sat upright, petting Guko to calm him down.

"It's just a little dog. He can help protect us. Why are you so mean?" Mason asked, starting to raise his own voice, getting angry at Swags for yelling about Goku.

"A little dog that can get infected a lot easier than we can. We know how to avoid zombies, that thing doesn't. Get rid of it now, before I kill it. We can always use more food." Swagger threatened, glaring at the dog, who had calmed down, but was still on edge and ready to attack the man in the doorway.

Their yelling attracted the attention of the others in the house. Fitz left his bedroom to inverstigate, telling Toby to stay in place. She nodded and sat back down on the bed, glad she didn't have to confront an angry Swagger. Fitz passed Kryoz in the hall, both on their way to see what the yelling was about.

"Hey, stay back. I got this." Fitz whispered to Kryoz, knowing multiple people confronting the situation would make it even worse.

"Stop calling it by a name, and get rid of it NOW." Swagger stayed in the doorway, waiting. Fitz peeked his head in to see wha'ts happening.

"What are you waiting for cunt?" Mason asked, extremely annoyed with his so called friend. First he had snapped at him when they picked up Fitz and Toby, and now he's yelling about Mason bringing back a harmless dog.

"I'm waiting for you to get up and get rid of the dog." Swagger motioned to Goku before crossing his arms over his chest, becoming impatient.

"Hey. Swagger calm down. We'll figure something out." Fitz tried to calm the shorter man, moving to put a hand on his shoulder. Swagger ignored him and brushed his hand away.

"I'm not getting rid of him. He's my dog." Mason raised his voice, wrapping his arms around Goku. Swagger came into the room and reached for the dog.

"Come on. You getting- AH!" Swagger pulled his hand away, horrified. "That thing tried to bite me!" Swagger held his hand, looking it over and making sure he wasn't bleeding.

"Yeah! Cause you came at 'em all aggressive!" Mason yelled, tossing the covers off his legs and standing up, getting up in Swagger's face. Fitz tried to get through the door to stand between the two of them, but Swagger was not going to move.

"Back off Swags. We'll figure this out later. Cool down man." Fitz looked down at him, baffled at how angry Swagger is. He's changed from the man that Fitz once knew. It's still the man he loves, but he's different, and it's not for the better.

"Fuck off!" Swagger shoved Fitz out of the doorway and back into the hall. He turned back to Mason. "That thing better be gone by the morning, or else I'm killing it." Swagger stormed out of the room, roughly pushing past a shocked Fitz, leaving Mason with Goku, who seemed to be glaring at the spot where Swagger stood.

"It's okay baby. I would never get rid of you." Mason sat back down on the bed and hugged Goku to him. Goku relaxed and licked Mason's face, making him laugh.

Fitz entered the room, still shocked at Swagger's behavior. He looked at Mason hugging the dog.

"He just needs to calm down. We'll figure this out. I'm sure you'll be able to keep the dog." Fitz tried to comfort Mason. Mason nodded sadly, barely looking at Fitz.

Fitz gave Mason a sad smile before leaving, and going to lay down, leaving Mason with Goku. Jay nodded at Fitz as he walked past him into his bedroom. Jay closed the door behind him.

"He didn't like him did he?" Jay asked quietly, referring to Swagger not liking Goku. Mason shook his head sadly. He was really hoping he would get to keep Goku. And Fitz wasn't all too reassuring when it came to an angry Swagger threatening his dog. Jay walked over to the other side of the bed and took his shoes.

"I'll take care of him man. Get up and around." Jay promised, his face soft as he looked at Mason. Mason nodded, and quietly got ready to take his post with Matt for the night, worried that Swags would actually kill his pet. Swagger would have to take Goku from Mason's cold dead hands, he refused to give up Goku while he was still breathing.

While Mason was getting ready, Jay quickly fell asleep with Goku cuddling with him in the warm bed.

(If you're new here, check out @get-raccdd and @imjustmelving. They're the creators of this AU and have a lot more content on it. They're also just great people and amazing artists. Go check out their blogs if you enjoy this fic.)

(I would also like to thank @eclipsethedragon for helping me edit these last few chapters. You are a literal life saver.)

[drtanstravels]

The annual Euretina Congress was upon us again and this year it was to be held in Paris, France. Anna was speaking at the conference on the morning of September 3 and attending other events as well. We figured that while we were in France on this occasion we should venture out of Paris for the first time once the conference was over. Anna and I got married in Colmar Tropicale, a fake french village in Berjaya Hills, Malaysia so we decided we should take the opportunity to visit the real village of Colmar in northeastern France. However, there were a couple of other events that reared their collective heads during the planning of this trip; first of all, Anna’s cousin, Robin, was to be married in Vancouver, Canada on September 7 and nobody from Anna’s immediate family were able to attend. Secondly, Anna had been invited to speak at another conference in Paris on September 15 so our adventure would be as follows:

We would fly out from Singapore on the evening of Tuesday, September 3, arriving in Paris early the following morning.

We would stay three nights in Paris before flying out for Vancouver on the morning of Saturday, September 7 and, due to timezones, landing the very same morning of the wedding.

After four nights in Vancouver we would return to Paris on Wednesday, September 11 and immediately make a two-and-a-half-hour train ride to Colmar after we landed on Thursday, September 12, changing trains in Strasbourg along the way.

We had two nights in Colmar to see the legit town before making the same train journey back to Paris on Saturday, September 14.

After two more nights in Paris we would make the 13-hour flight back to Singapore on Monday, September 16.

We had a hectic and exhausting itinerary planned and this post is about the initial Paris leg of the trip, but the story begins a little before that — My 40th birthday fell five days before we were to depart, on Friday, August 30. Anna had planned several surprises for me, but they didn’t quite go as secretly as she wanted, nonetheless it was a fantastic night all the same. She had initially organised a surprise party at my local pub, Coq & Balls, complete with karaoke and a bar tab for my friends, however, the surprise was kind of ruined when one of the staff asked me if there was anything else I’d like planned for my birthday after Anna had just finished organising everything while I was in the bar’s toilet. A few days later a package arrived in the mail for Anna, but the contents were written on the outside; my favourite films are the original Planet of the Apes series and Anna had found a copy of the Mad magazine from 1973. She also caught on that I knew what was in the package because I left it discreetly on the bench, as opposed to telling her like I usually do when something comes in the mail for her. None of that mattered, though. When the night came it was so much fun, just hanging out with mates, drinking, singing, and eating an incredible sushi cake that Anna’s friends, Pat and Roshini, made for me, as well as a crêpe cake from Anna’s favourite store, Lady M. Pat and Rosh didn’t want to try their own cake though, because they did a trial run the previous weekend and had been eating sushi all week as a result. A great night was had by all, take a look at some scenes:

I’m pretty pleased with this!

Belting out a tune with Mike in the Trump-ish tie that Anna’s auntie bought me without a hint of irony

Cheers Rosh and Pat for the sushi cake, I can just never get a photo where they all have their eyes open

With Pat and Rosh’s cake

But enough about me, let’s get down to brass tacks here — Our epic journey.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019 There wasn’t much that is particularly relevant to this post that happened on the Tuesday, however, before we left to the airport that evening, Anna had been notified of a promotion she had received. Her official title will soon be Adjunct Associate Professor so that made me feel more than just a little bit proud. Anyway, we had no problems boarding our flight, popped a sleeping pill each, and when we woke up it was time to prepare for our landing in Paris.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019 It took us forever to get out of the airport as there was only one booth open at immigration, but after about an hour we were through and in a taxi en route to our hotel. I remembered from the last time we visited Paris that it was a very dirty city with dog shit everywhere and countless tramps wandering around, the level of both depending on the area in which you were staying, but I had completely forgotten about the large villages of small tents, some legit one-man camping tents and swags, others a folded piece of cardboard propped up with a stick, in which the more privileged homeless dwell, occupying large parks and grass areas, particularly along the freeway in the spaces between entrances and exits as you get closer to the city from Charles de Gaulle Airport. We eventually made it through the insane traffic and checked into our home for the next few nights, the Hotel-Residence Foch, a name that had required us to ask our taxi driver for the correct pronunciation so as not to offend the staff or other potential drivers. Apparently it’s pronounced “fosch.” Once we had checked in we took the tiny elevator that barely had space for the two of us and our suitcases up to our room, one where there was only space for one suitcase on the counter and one on the floor. The only problem was that my suitcase was the one on the floor and when it was open the door could only open wide enough for someone to slide through sideways, but in a strange twist the bathroom was really large.

Once Anna was ready we left the Foch, her for the conference and me to just have a bit of a wander around. Just like our last visit we were staying near the Arc de Triomphe so I just Googled some flea markets and stores that I thought I might like, inadvertently ending up walking quite a distance to where we had spent an entire day on that previous trip. The ever-unreliable Google Maps led me past the Eiffel Tower, where there were endless stalls selling unofficial merchandise, as well as counterfeit and stolen goods, and then I made my way across the Seine to a dodgy-looking market under the train lines that was beginning to shut down by the time I had arrived. I put my wallet in my front pocket and had a look through the stalls that were still open and the rest of the afternoon was spent browsing through stores and looking at statues in the 15th arrondissement until Anna messaged me to let me know that she was done with the conference and to meet her back at the hotel. A bit of what I saw on my walk:

Even Napoleon himself would say that our room was definitely on the small side

Looking at the bathroom from the bed

The view down our street

A statue on a roundabout taken during a split second when there wasn’t traffic chaos

Not sure what’s going on here

The fake goods start well before the Eiffel Tower…

…but this is just a fraction of the knock-offs sold once you are nearby

It doesn’t look all that dissimilar to one of the numerous cranes on the surrounding construction sites to be honest

A chair baked out of bread in a bakery

A bridge over the Seine

A closeup of the figures on the bridge

A statue near the bridge

Carvings on the way back to the hotel

Another carving

“To the glory of the French army 1914-1918”

Once I was back at the hotel Anna told me about an area where there were a bunch of shops she wanted to look at, as well as some decent restaurants, it all just happened to be in the general direction from where I had just come. We wandered to where I had been, albeit taking a few different streets, looking at some cool shops, as well as a really bizarre furniture store. Anna loves French bakeries, especially all of the cakes and macaroons, so we also visited some bakeries along the way, despite the fact we would be having dinner soon, and it became clear it wasn’t just the case with the one I bought a coffee at that morning — The cabinets in the bakeries in Paris that contain all of the sweet pastries, tarts, and cakes also have bees flying around inside and absolutely nobody seems to care at all! The cabinets with quiches and cheesy items are fine, but if I were working there I’d be extremely hesitant to put my hand in one to grab a sugary dessert item. Seriously, some of the bakeries we saw over the course of our time in Paris had swarms of bees inside the cabinets! I guess the flies pay more attention to all of the dog shit on the ground instead.

Maybe it was just the bee-ridden cakes, but Anna was starting to get peckish, it was around time for dinner and she had her heart set on soufflé so she managed to find what was rated as one of the better soufflé restaurants in town, however, they were completely booked out that night. We walked around for a bit, but there wasn’t anything else on the block except for a small restaurant that looked a little suspicious with menus in multiple languages and the word ‘pasta’ stencilled largely on the wall among the names of some French dishes. Still, we were hungry and it had a lot of people inside so we took a seat at the only spare table, one which had to be pulled out so Anna could sit. In fact, if she needed to go to the bathroom while eating, at least three other people would need to slide across the bench seat to let her out. It took forever for menus to come and while we were waiting it soon became abundantly clear that everyone in the restaurant was a middle-aged person from the USA. “This is the best foie gras I’ve ever had, it’s even better than that one in San Francisco!” was one pearl of wisdom we heard while sitting there. We were a tad disappointed at the prospect of what was potentially going to be our first dinner on this trip to Paris, one of the food capitals of the world. Generally it isn’t a good sign when a place has the menus out the front written in several different languages with no mistranslations and there isn’t a single local person eating there, plus the service was so slow so I gave Anna a nod and we both stood up to leave. This got the waitress rushing over with the menus, but I had already prepared for this by looking at my phone with a shocked look on my face as we stood so we could simply tell her we had to go, as if it were an emergency.

Once out, Anna took to Google again and found what looked like was going to be a decent restaurant in the 6th arrondissement. When we arrived it turned out to be unbelievably good and as an added bonus it had a whole bunch of different soufflés so we ordered beef tartare, foie gras, a phenomenal local pasta dish with mushrooms and truffles, and an escargot soufflé to top it off. By the time we had finished all of that food, all of the other patrons had left and it looked like the staff wanted to close up so we went to a nearby bar for a drink or two, but we were tired from the flight and Anna had the conference the next day, plus we were super-full, so we didn’t have a late night. Here’s some shots from that strange furniture store, plus some from dinner:

Just a bed frame covered in pictures of people doing it

This would probably clash with most of our other furniture

Even though it has a tail, this still wasn’t the weirdest bike we would encounter in France, but you’ll have to wait for the other one

I guess it’s kind of cool if you like polar bears or fluffy white dogs or whatever the hell they’re supposed to be

That’s one bad-ass bike

There was some strange stuff in this shop

Notre Dame de l’Assomption

Snail souffle

Beef tartare

Anna with some foie gras

Place Vendôme

The interior of the restaurant as we were leaving

Thursday, September 5, 2019 Anna was at the conference again in the morning so I waited until she was done and then we checked out another part of town, this time in the 3rd and 10th arrondissements with a lot of vintage and retro stores. Much like the previous day, we spent a fair bit of time looking at shops and avoiding bee attacks in bakeries when Anna got it in her mind to check out Canal Saint-Martin, which is described on Wikipedia as follows:

Today, the canal is a popular destination for Parisians and tourists. Some take cruises on the canal in passenger boats. Others watch the barges and other boats navigate the series of locks and pass under the attractive cast-iron footbridges. There are many popular restaurants and bars along the open part of the canal, which is also popular with students.

That seems cool so we walked down through the Place de la République to the canal, but we definitely didn’t end up at the section Wikipedia was referring to. To be honest, I’ve been considering updating that portion of the page to something along the lines of this:

Today, the canal is a popular destination for the homeless and beginner graffiti artists. Some take the wallets, phones, and other personal items of unwitting visitors. Others watch the drunks and strung out junkies while navigating a winding path through garbage and, of course, canine faeces. There aren’t many shops or restaurants along this particular open part of the canal due to a fear of everything in the building, right down to the final length of copper piping, being stolen in order to fund the perpetrators’ various addictions.

Yeah, that sounds like a more accurate depiction of what we saw along the particular length of the canal that we walked. After the canal we looked around a few more stores in a different area, grabbed a coffee each, and then went home to clean the grime off ourselves before we had dinner at the house of Anna’s former colleague from New York, Polina Astroz, and her husband. We took an Uber to meet up with her and instantly remembered exactly how bad Parisian traffic is, especially at peak times. The main roads have many roundabouts with at least six other roads consisting of about the same amount of lanes leading into each roundabout and thousands of drivers throwing caution to the wind, and when it comes to traffic lights, nobody tends to care either, both situations resulting in a massive gridlock. Our driver told us about how the key to driving in Paris is stubbornness, as it is the only way you will get anywhere, you’ll just get stuck or cut off if you obey the rules or give way to other drivers, and when two truly stubborn drivers won’t budge, it usually results in a fight on the side of the road. Just as he finished talking we passed a fistfight between two drivers who both refused to budge. It took us almost an hour to get to where we needed to be, making us extremely late, and it would’ve been almost twice as fast if we had’ve walked, but we finally made it. Prior to dinner we had drinks with Polina and one of her friends at an awesome rooftop bar near her place until Polina assumed her husband had almost finished preparing dinner. When we arrived at their beautiful apartment we spent a few hours that night chatting, mainly reminiscing about old times in New York over home-cooked duck confit with apricots, a traditional dish from Toulouse, the area of France they are both originally from, and a few more drinks. It was quite late when we left and some of Anna’s Singaporean colleagues were meeting up in a bar that night, but that was all over by the time we were done. I didn’t take any photos around the canal for fear of my phone being stolen, but here are some others that I got that day:

The Museum of Modern Art

Me with some of our lunch

Although she had been there before, Anna still wanted the token shot

Place de la République

Walking around

The view from the rooftop bar

A closeup of the church

Now at dusk

Looking out Polina’s apartment window

Friday, September 6, 2019 We did most of the tourist attractions on our first trip to Paris; we walked down Avenue des Champs-Élysées, saw the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, visited Notre Dame, and saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. However, there was one attraction I had always been fascinated with and wanted desperately to see — The Catacombs:

The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone quarries. Extending south from the Barrière d’Enfer (“Gate of Hell”) former city gate, this ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries. Preparation work began not long after a 1774 series of gruesome Saint Innocents-cemetery-quarter basement wall collapses added a sense of urgency to the cemetery-eliminating measure, and from 1786, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris’ cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire.

The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty-place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of accesses around Place Denfert-Rochereau, it was open to public visitation from 1874.

The catacombs in their first years were a disorganized bone repository, but Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, director of the Paris Mine Inspection Service from 1810, had renovations done that would transform the underground caverns into a visitable mausoleum. In addition to directing the stacking of skulls and femurs into the patterns seen in the catacombs today, he used the cemetery decorations he could find (formerly stored on the Tombe-Issoire property, many had disappeared after the 1789 Revolution) to complement the walls of bones. Also created was a room dedicated to the display of the various minerals found under Paris, and another showing various skeletal deformities found during the catacombs’ creation and renovation. He also added monumental tablets and archways bearing ominous warning inscriptions, and also added stone tablets bearing descriptions or other comments about the nature of the ossuary, and to ensure the safety of eventual visitors, it was walled from the rest of the Paris’s Left Bank already-extensive underground tunnel network.

Although the catacombs offered space to bury the dead, they presented disadvantages to building structures; because the catacombs are directly under the Paris streets, large foundations cannot be built and cave-ins have destroyed buildings. For this reason, there are few tall buildings in this area.

Anna booked an audio tour of the catacombs for us and after we caught the train to that area and walked to the entrance, we were glad that we already had tickets. The line for tickets was around the block, and we even had to wait for about 15 minutes to enter, because according to the official catacombs visitor’s website, despite being 1.5km (1 mile) long, the number of simultaneous visitors is limited to 200 so those people in line for tickets could be there for hours! Once inside we walked down the 131-step spiral staircase to the tunnel network and soon we were in the winding corridor of human bones. One thing that became abundantly clear is that some people can be complete dicks when visiting historic sites. An extreme case you may remember was when a fifteen-year-old Chinese school student was identified back in 2013 as he who had scratched his name into a 3,500-year-old Egyptian artwork in the Temple of Luxor. Although the defacing of the catacombs may not be quite as severe as that, it is extremely frustrating to enter and see that tags have been sprayed and stickers stuck allover the place, some even on actual skulls! However, this soon ceases and we spent over an hour walking through a mile of winding passages consisting of exquisitely arranged human remains, all the while learning how it came to be that way. Take a quick tour of this macabre, yet beautiful construction for yourself via just a handful of the pictures we took during our adventure underground (all translations via Google Translate):

It’s a long way down

There are some areas I struggle to fit

A tunnel leading to the catacombs

I’m not sure why this guy has a bone in his eye

Upon entrance not all of the remains are organised

Arranged into a heart

I guess I shouldn’t try to smile for ALL photographs

“Bones of the old cemetery St. Laurent deposited in 1848 in the western ossuary and transferred in September 1859”

A collapsed cross

“They were what we are, dust, toys of the wind; Fragile as men. Weak as the nether!”

Winding our way around

Don’t let the expression fool you, Anna thoroughly enjoyed it, but just thought this look was a little more appropriate

Continuing either side of a supporting pillar

Random arrangement

A skull bearing torture scars

The amount of effort that went into arranging the remains of six million bodies is staggering

Dick move example #1

A pile of bones beneath an inscription too small to translate

“M.D. bones of St. Laurent Church filed on April 17, 1873”

Still making our way through

“Bones of the Old Cemetery of the Magdalen (street of the city Leveque No. 1 and 2) deposited in 1844 in the ossuary of the west and transferred in the catacombs in September 1850”

Approaching the end

Dick move example #2

The piece de resistance

A little bit of trivia: Scenes from Will Smith’s upcoming film, Gemini Man, appear to have been filmed in the catacombs, although it was more than likely just a set.

Anyway, after the catacombs we had dinner with some of Anna’s colleagues and then went out until the wee hours of the morning to avoid sleeping too much; we had to catch an early flight in a few hours that, due to timezones, would arrive at almost the exact same time in Vancouver, and then we would need to rush to a wedding so we wanted to sleep as much as we could on the plane. But that story is the basis of my next post so stay tuned for Part 2!

Oh, and I just wanted to say that while we were touring the catacombs, I could help but smile as I thought of this classic Michiel Sweerts piece, Self-Portrait with Skull, circa 1660:

It was tempting… (Image source)

The first leg of a trip that would have us covering a lot of distance over a relatively short time The annual Euretina Congress was upon us again and this year it was to be held in Paris, France.