Ok, just got back from dinner. Had steak tartare for the first time, and it was pretty damn good. The health concerns regarding it bother me a little, so it probably won't be a regular dish for me. Nonetheless, it is part of my culinary adventure! And yes, I had it with an egg on top, with capers and pickled onions. Very French

So I guess I should do the interesting part of the post now. As some of you know by now, I had an adventure in the catacombs of Paris. So here is the night:

I had met this hippie chick on Tuesday when I went out for drinks with Yann. She mentioned almost immediately that she is a cataphile, and that she was going down to the catacombs that night. As soon as she heard that I had never been, she immediately invited me to come along. Obviously, since I was a little drunk and in work clothes, I figured it was a bad idea at the time. So, we agreed to a Friday excursion.

Being the smart boy that I am, I went out and bought everything that I thought I would or could use for the adventure. Flashlights, wine, cheese, bread, bottle opener (very important!), cigarettes, paper and pens, quiche, and lighters; they all turned out to be very useful! On Friday, I gave her a call and I went over to her apartment. After waiting for quite awhile for her friends, we eventually started on the journey. All the while, people were pumping me up for the adventure, and explaining the history and culture of the catacombs.

So here is near the park we came in.
Everything was now a rush. They quickly unlocked the gate to the park, and we ran in under the cover of shadows. While going to the catacombs is not a huge crime, the police do give you a fine and if they find an entrance they will brick it up. So, wandering through the bushes, we came upon a tiny little manhole. It was opened with a key, and I was the first to go in. It was not an easy way at all. I had to squish through a tiny opening feet first, in complete darkness. My bag was passed and found myself at the top of a spiral staircase. Hearing "Allez! Allez!" being yelled behind me, I stumbled down the stairs. It was covered in dirt, and surprisingly slippery, then we reached the bottom.

My first site at the bottom:
Ok, very cramped. I had to constantly duck, and throughout the night there were a few times I boinked my head. That's why the girl said her catacomb name was Bing. So, on we go! Start walking, almost running through the corridors. Left, right, straight. I had no idea where the hell I was, or any idea of how to get out if I wanted. But Bing was very cool, and kept asking if I was ok, and checked up on me throughout the night. So after what seemed like a half hour, we eventually reached a large room:
So we all sat around a table, opened the bottles of wine and one guy with a stereo put on some thumping techno beats. At this point, my mind was a little blown. The whole idea of being 30m under Paris was pretty wild. Bing showed me around, up a set of staircases to a La Poste location, which had a big steel door that looked like it was 60 years old at least.

Apparently it was locked up, and the room we had been in was used as storage previously. Cool. After sitting around, and drinking for a bit, it was time to move again. The cataphiles don't like to stay in one place too long for several reasons. For one, if too many people stay in a room, then people can inadvertently start destroying some of the older graffiti on the walls. There's also the threat of police, so it's best to keep moving. When they leave a room, they will often set off a smoke bomb. Such as this:
Off once again, only this time in a thick haze of smoke. I was starting to feel a bit more relaxed, the wine was a good idea. We eventually reached a point where the ceiling was about a foot or two from the floor, so it was time to crawl. Pushing my bag in front, hand and foot, I was wondering where the hell we were going. Eventually we reached the end. It opened up, but we heard voices. Obviously, I thought, "POLICE!!!". But nobody else seemed panicked, so I went with the flow. That's what I do best actually. We ran into some excavators. There is a group of cataphiles who make it their mission to uncover what the police have blockaded. So this was a new room, that had only been open for a month, and no one knew the last time anyone had seen it. Imagine that, how old this place is.
I was shown some of the writings on the wall. This is some of the very first graffiti that they know of. Writing that are estimated to have been from the 1860's, signatures of long dead people. But here we are appreciating what they've left us. I felt so lucky.
After chatting for awhile, it was off again. Another smoke bomb, and everybody clears out. It felt good, running through the halls. Hearing people talking, music pumped, putting out my hand and feeling centuries of hard work. Eventually we reached the third room. We stopped here for awhile, and ate for awhile. I was so glad I brought some quiche at this point, smoked salmon never tasted so good. Food was being offered, so I proposed some cheese and bread. Bing's eyes lit up and I let her dig in. Most of the cataphiles are not very rich, and tend to work just to get by with no huge career ambitions. Fair enough, so I was glad I could share my wealth with these people who were being so generous. There were other cataphiles around, we chatted for awhile. Everyone there was in such good spirits and so nice, I was very impressed. They were all very happy that I could come down there and see this part of Paris. But onward! More rooms to be had. As a note, each of the rooms had a name, although I can't remember any of them now hahaha.
Here is a Brazilian fellow who was in our group. At this point, he was getting drunk and really wanted to talk to me. He began to explain the history of the catacombs and what I should start looking for. As you see here the walls are brick like in structure, this is a later development of the catacombs, in the early 19th century. Originally, the catacombs began their existence as the people wanted to use the rock for the houses in Paris. So if you look now at buildings there, this is where a lot of the rock is from. This is also why the catacombs are only under streets because it would cave it otherwise.
In the next room I found this to be next to the makeshift table. I don't know how old it was, but I love it. People leaving messages for each other, and everyone has respect for it. You want to leave it so people can enjoy it for generations to come.

Here you can see the differences of the types of structure in the catacombs. Being next to the bare rock felt very good. Very real. Here is Bing, it gives you an idea of how cramped it was, and that there was always a bit of smoke around.
One of the inscriptions as to the date of inspection. You can tell it was the third inspection, the initials were of the inspector and the year. These are everywhere, and the oldest date back to 1777. Mindblowing.

Another interesting thing I found was that there were only white people for the most part. When I asked about it, they were all fairly adamant that it was something only for Parisians and, well, white people. This bit of racism was the one thing I noticed was what you could consider hateful about the cataphiles. Then again, as the Brazilian(he was part French) said, "Could you imagine eating couscous down here? Never! It's wine, cheese, bread!" hahaha, fair enough. This being said, I felt very safe with all the people and it was more that they wanted to keep it secret and controlled. They only want to bring people who can respect it, who have an understanding of the history. For a foreigner, like me, they call a tourist instead of a cataphile. Tourists are looked down upon generally, but they liked me because Bing brought me. That girl is awesome.

We eventually found our way back to the original room where we hung out. It had been about 7 or 8 hours in the catacombs at this point, so I was getting tired. But my Brazilian friend offered to get some pics of me so...proof!
There were two other cataphiles not from our original group that were leaving, so I joined them. After thanking everyone it was off for the final adventure that night. We walked through and found a ladder upwards. Climbing several iterations of the ladder, we reached a small platform and saw the manhole cover. A huge one too. Must have been 70 kilos at least. One of the guys pushed it out with his feet by holding the ladder (risky!) and onto the street we were. Right in the middle of the sidewalk no less! People walking everywhere, giving us strange looks. Covered in dirt we emerged, I was bleary eyed and seeing the morning sun was strange. I bid the guides adieu, and went on my way home. It was a good sleep, and well worth it.

So there it is, my "official" account of it all. A great time, and I will probably go again to the other section in a few weeks. There are two main catacomb areas, and we went to the "easier" and less known one. The one in the 14em is apparently a lot bigger, and there are some areas with flooded water. So I'll have to get some gum boots for it, but I'm up for a challenge.

I went out with friends from work on Saturday, but it felt like it was a different life. What a strange weekend.

I hope all is well with everyone. Next weekend I am off to Nice, so you'll see some beach pictures with the next update! Until next time...