KEY POINTS:
Paris might be known as a romantic city, but it also has a macabre underbelly for travellers with a liking for the bizarre.
We set out in the spring sunshine - after a typically French breakfast of croissants, orange juice and cafe au lait - to find a
little green building in the middle of an intersection that is the entry to what must be Paris' most non-romantic sight.
We paid the entry fee and descended the dizzying spiral staircase, passing under the Metro and sewers, to 20m below street level and into the Catacombs of Paris. The Catacombs are a maze of tunnels - another world, and a spine-chilling one at that.
Visitors can wander through more than 1km of the tunnels, carefully stepping over the slightly uneven dirt pathway, and eventually into a dimly lit ossuary that dates back to the late 18th century. The foreboding message at the top of the ossuary entry arch states "Halt, for this is the empire of death". Inside there are human skulls and bones as far as the eye can see.
The ossuary was created when Paris' largest cemetery was closed in 1780 because it was believed it was a public health danger.
Cemeteries were overflowing at the time, and in 1785 it was decided that bones from the largest one would be exhumed and transferred to a better place where they would not be a hygiene risk. That place turned out to be a quarry, now known as the Catacombs, which houses bones from cemeteries all over Paris that were transferred there until 1860.
The tunnels stretch a huge distance under Paris, but only part of them are open to the public. Occasionally people sneak into the closed-off parts through secret manholes, but the police are never far behind.
The sight of the bones _ neatly stacked in endless interlocked rows along both sides of the silent pathway - was unlike any other Parisian experience.
They were piled up to about eye level, the skulls lined up in almost decorative patterns glaring out from between the bones.
I lost balance and reached out to steady myself, only to quickly pull my hand back from the human skulls I was centimetres from grabbing.
It might not sound like a fun experience down there, but it was certainly memorable.
The information provided to help you understand what you are looking at is fascinating.
When we got to the end we were happy to climb the many stairs to get back to the street, but there was still one more surprise awaiting us - the man who checks your bag to make sure you haven't stolen a stray skull or two.
We were amazed anyone would do that until he pointed to a table where a small pile of bones sat, apparently taken from the bags of light-fingered visitors.
We emerged into the sunlight, which felt cleansing. A nearby street was packed with fruit stalls, a chocolatier and a fromagerie, and we headed straight there.
Odd? Yes. And not for the fainthearted. A sight which gives you endless stories to entertain friends and family with? Definitely.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Catacombs of Paris are at 1, avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, near the Denfert Rochereau Metro station. The entry fee varies according to exhibitions but is usually around $5. You can see more of the catacombs at Triggur.org and Showcaves.
* Paula Oliver travelled to Paris as a guest of Singapore Airlines.
