You’re learning French at ACCORD French Language School and you’re in for a ghoulishly good time in the French capital this October. Feast your eyes on the Halloween decorations in the city streets and draped over the shop fronts, tuck into autumnal dishes that will warm your bones and soak up the chill in the air as winter approaches. Here are our favourite things to do during spooky season in Paris.
Les Catacombes
Do you dare enter L’Empire de la Mort? Are you brave enough to venture down 131 steps, squeezing down narrow tunnels beneath Paris itself? A trip to Les Catacombes will always raise goosebumps, but walking amongst the skulls and bones of 7 million Parisians, including many of the people who were guillotined during the French Revolution, is truly macabre around spooky season itself. As you can imagine, this is a popular spot all year round, but tickets will sell out fast as we approach Halloween. There isn’t much space within the Catacombs so capacity is limited to 200 people. The Catacombs website does sell tickets if you’re planning to visit within the next 7 days, but that means you’re going to have to set an alarm to get your mitts on them before they sell out. Alternatively, you can book tickets using websites such as Get Your Guide where you’ll find tickets for slightly higher prices but far more date options than the official website itself.
Père Lachaise
A trip to this cemetery should be on every dark tourist and Halloween holidaymaker’s to-do list in Paris. It’s such an atmospheric and fascinating part of the capital’s history that ACCORD Paris has even designed a ghost hunting tour as part of its upcoming new French Culture & Civilisation course (keep your eyes peeled)! The cemetery is famous as being the final resting place for the likes of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Chopin (minus his heart… look it up!), Balzac and Edith Piaf. You don’t need a guide to explore the legendary cemetery: just pick up a map at the entrance and go with your gut. Even if you don’t spot the ghosts of Proust and Ravel looking for each other or hear the echoes of the executed socialist fighters at the Mur des Fédérés, squeeze every drop out of the experience as you wander the narrow lanes, peer into little mausoleums, marvel at the incredible sculptures and feel the chill as you encounter statues of the Grim Reaper looming over you. If you do fancy joining a guided tour or prefer safety in numbers, Get Your Guide has some great options for you to choose from.
La Conciergerie
Don’t be fooled by its pristine exterior and beautiful interior; there’s a lot of darkness in this Parisian landmark. During the French Revolution, this building housed over 4000 prisoners awaiting trial by the merciless Revolutionary Tribunal and became known as the antechamber of death. Marie Antoinette herself spent the last 2 months of her life in a guarded cell here before she met her end under the blade. Ironically enough, Robespierre himself was held in the very same cell as the French queen before his time with the guillotine came. It makes sense that the monument should host an event in keeping with its grisly past for Halloween, as La Conciergerie brings you a tour at 2.15pm on Saturday 31st October: Frissons sur l’île de la Cité. Join actors on a storytelling tour that takes you back to the Middle Ages, where the city streets set the scene for a collision between medieval tragedies, local legends and sinister superstitions.
Escape Game
If you’re looking for a truly terrifying time, a horror escape game could be right up your street. Here’s one that certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted or any sensitive souls out there: L’abattoir. This escape game puts you in an abattoir with actors keeping the intensity levels throughout the hour-long extreme horror experience. The perfect players are anyone who loves slasher movies, surprises and thrills. What’s the story? Instead of escaping from a room you have to escape from a sadistic butcher and outsmart a terrifying serial killer. It costs 36€ per person, a small price to pay for a Halloween that you’ll never forget.
ACCORD Paris
After the terror of escaping an axe-wielding murderer at the abattoir escape game, you’ll appreciate the safety of ACCORD Paris: close to the Eiffel Tower and Champ de Mars (safety in numbers), on the upper floors of a beautiful building (so you can keep a lookout for zombies before you go out for your jambon beurre), no creepy killers around (just lovely teachers and staff members)… but we should warn you: it’s a terrifyingly good school where you’ll learn French so quickly it’s scary! If you take a French class like ACCORD’s Oral Communication course, you can be safe in the knowledge that you’ll be able to talk your way out of any sticky situation that may come your way this Halloween. Or how about a Legal French course? That should frighten off any would-be troublemakers you may have to deal with in your professional life too!
If you’d like any information about any of the events or locations mentioned in this blog, or would like to book your French course in time for Halloween, please email us on info@activelanguages.co.uk
Creep it real!
