Propaganda for crawling through the sewers:
It's basically tourism! I speak as an American: why do my people feel the need to endure experiences they will inevitably bitch about (long plane ride, jet lag, being asked to walk places, neophobic reactions to benign unfamiliar everyday objects, the international tendency towards lukewarm beverages)? Let's list some off, and Hugo can back me up on why the Parisian sewers check the boxes.
Seeing places with centuries of history: "all that human laws persecute or have persecuted, is hidden in that hole; the maillotins in the fourteenth century, the tire-laine of the fifteenth, the Huguenots in the sixteenth, Morin’s illuminated in the seventeenth, the chauffeurs [brigands] in the eighteenth."
Visiting sites associated with historical figures: "Louis XI. is there with Tristan, François I. with Duprat, Charles IX. is there with his mother, Richelieu is there with Louis XIII., Louvois is there, Letellier is there, Hébert and Maillard are there, scratching the stones, and trying to make the traces of their actions disappear."
Experiencing the thrill of possible danger: "To try that unknown thing, to cast the plummet into that shadow, to set out on a voyage of discovery in that abyss—who would have dared? It was alarming."
The chance to find and bring home a souvenir: "If a giant had filtered this cesspool, he would have had the riches of centuries in his lair. [. . .] Bruneseau held his lantern close to this rag and examined it. It was of very fine batiste, and in one of the corners, less frayed than the rest, they made out a heraldic coronet and embroidered above these seven letters: LAVBESP"
We love a beach vacay—no chance to make it to the coast? The sewers got you: "Still another resemblance between Paris and the sea. As in the ocean, the diver may disappear there."
Concerned about venturing into shadier areas? No worries, the sewers are patrolled (ACAB): "It was the gloomy star of the police which was rising in the sewer."
Eating novel and regionally unique snack, such as: "the roll which had been forgotten there on the preceding evening"
Encountering unfamiliar geological features: "This crevice, the hiatus of a gulf of mire, was called a fontis, in the special tongue. What is a fontis? It is the quicksands of the seashore suddenly encountered under the surface of the earth; it is the beach of Mont Saint-Michel in a sewer."
Finally, as any who have read Les Misérables know, you can never predict: fate loves a coincidence, and you might meet an old friend while spelunking who will be happy to share a bit of local lore and a helping hand (or bit of rope and key, as the situation demands).
The grave is a fine and private place, but the sewers have history, thrills, souvenirs, snacks, and pals! Crawl through them today!
jacobvanloon
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
titsay
stormborns
