Visite des egrouts de Paris

When I woke up this morning the Professor outlined our activity for the day -

visiting the Paris sewer system.

It turned out to be a great idea. 

The start of the tour is by the Pont Alma which is an easy walk from where we live/or the Eiffel Tower.  I am standing on the Quai David Ben-Gurion.

Notice the glowing sewer worker guiding a tour of children.

It was not until I looked at the pictures that I noticed that all of the sewer workers

had bands on their clothing that are luminous.

This was definitely one of the more ominous sites in the tour.  This equipment is 

covered with cobwebs or something similar.

Of course when the sewer system was so well developed, it was easy to use it for

running cable all over the city.  

.Bust of Eugene Belgrand, the engineer who led the modernization of the Paris sewers.

Old boots on display

 Paris Sewer Museum

In 1805, before the advent of the modern sewers, Pierre Bruneseau, an adventurer of sorts, decided to map the ancient and aging sewer system. Although even the police were afraid to enter the sewers, Bruneseau did so, and along the way found lost medieval dungeons, jewels, and the skeleton of an escaped orangutan. Bruneseau finished his survey in 1812.

The ancient system was described by his friend Victor Hugo in Les Miserables as "fetid, wild, fierce..." Hugo wrote that "nothing could equal the horror of this old, waste crypt, the digestive apparatus of Babylon." Bruneseau was lauded by Paris as "the most intrepid man in your Empire" and "the Christopher Columbus of the cess-pool."

In Les Miserables Hugo's hero Jean Valjean saves the life of Marius by carrying him through the sewers to the young man's home.  It was because of Hugo's friendship with Bruneseau that he had the knowledge of the sewers of Paris.

These balls were part of the cleaning system for sewer opening that were inaccessible to 

the sewer workers.  The balls were propelled down the sewers by the force of the water.

When they reached the end of the line, they were taken out by workers, cleaned out of sand and

debris and taken back to the start of the line again.  

Rolling the ball uphill

Thanks to the sewer works plaque.

An example of one of the few fountains around Paris where citizens could get potable water.

Thanks to all of the people who want to share their pictures on the internet, here is a photograph

of an open manhole with workers around it.  Every street in Paris has sewer lines under it

and every line is accessible for inspection.