Bon Bons and Bones

The last few days have been fast and furious but I did manage to fit in what I think is off the beaten track and not a Paris monument...the Museé Gormand du Chocolat.  The Museé Gourmand du Chocolat was interesting in that they took what the Olmec civilization (B.C.) developed using roasted cacao beans, corn and other hot spices to create a liquid concoction known today as chocolate. 

The Parisians loved the taste of chocolate and began to add sugar to the hot drink.  It became so popular they developed china specifically for drinking chocolate.  Children drank from small, round bowls, while adults drank from cups with a hole at the bottom for melting chocolate with hot milk.  Society vascilated regarding the benefits of chocolate.  Parisian's believed chocolate to be healthy and encouraged people to over-indulge in drinking chocolate because of its curative benefits while other years it was thought to not be good for the constitution.  Whatever the case, chocolate is still here to stay.

I did bring Judy and Ekkehard some chocolate with hot spice to stir into hot milk.  We'll see how they like it!

My next venture included seeing the Catacombes of Paris which is an underground cemetary for the remains of 6 million people who were killed by either the plaque or were to poor for a buriel. 

The catacombs are underground tunnels and taverns.  The tunnels are below both the metro and sewer lines.  It's open to the public and the bones are moveable...I touched the skulls and bones and they do move.  Parisian's now refer to this former stone mine as the Catacombs of Paris (picture below).