What Dreams May Come

Last week Burke and I decided it was high time to visit the Catacombs that I mentioned at the end of this blog.  Signs at the entrance cautioned those with claustrophobia or weak hearts to think carefully before entering.  I gulped as we bought our tickets and began the descent down an endless spiral staircase into the pit of the earth.  

The catacombs were created originally by miners, but when they were forbidden to dig any longer, the vast network of tunnels sprawling under the city remained empty and unused.  When the mass graves above ground began to cause diseases and nasal discomfort for the citizens, they began a grand exodus to dig up the remains of millions and relocate them to the new cemeteries on the outskirts of the city and primarily to the out of sight caverns below.  The dark, damp tunnels we walked through eventually led us to the remains of over 6 million people.  We weren't allowed to use our flash and the majority of the catacombs were very dark, so here are a handful of pictures that actually turned out.

It was kind of creepy to walk past all of those skulls and bones and to realize they were once living, breathing, human beings.  One of the online classes I've been taking this summer is an analysis of Shakespeare and the work we are currently reading is Hamlet.  I couldn't help but think of Hamlet's famous soliloquy: 

"To be or not to be: that is the question....

To die, to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end 

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks 

That flesh is heir to, 't is a consummation devoutly to be wish'd.  To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come!"