Notes from the underground

With Aidan and Joseph, we're getting a different view of Paris.  We explored the traditional sights, both along the Seine (including the Louvre and Notre Dame) and in Montmartre.

But we also visited the Paris underground. For example, we toured the catacombs. The tunnels were dug in ancient times by quarry men. Then, in the 18th century when the Cemetery of the Innocents became overcrowded and a source of infection, remains were transferred to the catacombs, which became a consecrated, if eerie, cemetery.

Visitors are asked to show the respect they would in any cemetery or place of worship. Because gatekeepers strictly limit the people who can enter at one time, you can find yourself alone in the narrow, shadowy passages.

It's surprising how quickly you can get used to being surrounded by skulls and bones. Over six million people are interred there, and the walk covers about 2 kilometers (more than a mile).

A side note: Part of the catacombs served as a command center for the resistance during the liberation of Paris in 1944. 

There are also sculptures by Decure in the catacombs that pre-date the ossuaries. He was killed in 1782 when
he tried to create a passage to the next gallery, and the roof collapsed.

But that was not the end of our journeys underground. We also toured the Paris Sewer Museum.  I know people who found that tour particularly interesting, and the age and foresight in the construction of the sewers is fascinating, but I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed by the models of sewer cleaning machines and the smell (though it certainly could have been worse.) 

Eeew! It smells like a sewer, too!

As an engineering feat, though, the sewers are remarkable. Although they have been expanded over the years, the design, laid out in 1850 by engineer Eugene Belgrand, remains much the same. Today, there are more than 2400 kilometers (1490 miles) of sewer tunnels.

I neglected to get a photo of the most interesting part--the large balls sent by water pressure through the sewers to clean them. The look like massive cannon-balls. I estimate the largest at about 6 feet in diameter.