Catacombs, outdoor food fairs, and Pizza Hut.

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June 23, 2012

We began our weekend with breakfast, some time at school, and then a trip to the catacombs beneath a curch. Nothing like starting the weekend out with a little death, right? 😉 We toured the main part of the cathedral first, where we saw places where monks used to eat cleanse before worship. Then we went to the sanctuary. We saw where the monks used to sit during services. There was this really neat spinning "music stand" that could spin around. They would put three identical massive "hymnals" on here so that all the monks could see the words for the songs and participate in the services. (There was a room that resembled a library that stored many of these hymals. However, most of them were in another secure location to help with the restoration process.) Then it was finally time to head to the deepest part of the church-- the catacombs! :D COOL. There were over 25,000 people buried at this church alone. However, it wasn't like common day burials. People were basically thrown into tombs together. When they were full, they would cover it up and move to a new space. Once an entire room was full, they'd seal if off completely and move to a new room. The bones that are still intact are mostly leg bones (femurs) and the tibias and fibias. When architects discovered the catacombs, they unearthed everything and completely re-categorized everything so that it made more sense and was easier to see. There were deep holes in the ground (almost like wells) that they had situated to be nothing but circles of skulls and femurs. They even put skulls IN the walls. SO. CREEPY. (Yet completely cool!) I was totally bummbed that we couldn't take any photos of anything inside. :/ Does that make me weird and creepy? Probs.

After the catacombs, we wandered around the city for a bit, and happened upon a literature museum. We took a walk through here, and we even signed the visitor's log on the way out. I felt really important. :D Then we headed to another part of the city to go to an art museum. But, by the time we got there, the museum was already closed. Bummer. :/ We did, however, find ourselves walking back through the park to the car when we ran into an outdoor food fair. It was SO neat! They were showing many different kinds of fruits and veggies that are grown in Peru. It was crazy! Not far from this, there was a market that displayed other Peruvian foods. There was even an outline of Peru with names of cities that had foods in that area covering the city. It was crazy neat! :D

After we toured the entire food fair, we headed to the mall to do some shopping. However, none of us did any shopping. On a very good note, though, there was a ZARA! I love Zara. 😊 I don't think I've seen one since I was in Chicago last summer. We finally got around to eating dinner, and Sr. Daniel really wanted to go to Pizza Hut. I was too keen on the idea at first, but, as it turns out, Pizza Huts here are much more elegant than in the states. It's more like eating at an Applebees or TGI Friday. It was actually really good food, too! Mmmm. I had a little American food with a Peruvian twist. Deliciosa!

Have a happy day! (But most of all, happy SHOW DAY to all my Govenaire friends! :D Have a wonderful show! Miss you terribly! Show Mankato what drum corps is all about.)

Monique

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Photos

Iglesia
This is the church where we went to go inside the catacombs. I was SO tempted to take photos inside, but that's not exactly allowed.

PALOMAS!
I love palomas. I love paloma chasing. Wish I had Miss Melissa here with me to go paloma chasing!

Mmmm. Food.
Peru... In food!

It may not be Caribou, but I'll still drink it.
I can't live without my coffee. I settled for Starbucks... (Don't tell my mother!) The guy had such neat handwriting!

Whatttt?
We were walking through the mall and happened upon this parade... Of giant animals. Big Bird in the house?