
A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground - BobbyVsTheDevil
https://longreads.com/2019/03/13/a-three-day-expedition-to-walk-across-paris-entirely-underground/
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titanix2
I had the chance to go in an underground party in Paris and this was really
awesome. Despite being winter it was warm inside the tunnel network. Without
our artificial lights we could experience total dark like. The room we stay at
had been expanded and decorated by a group of cataphiles and was designed to
handle candles which gave an even more great ambiance.

~~~
pryce
I have always wondered about the fire safety of these events, gathering large
numbers of people in spaces not originally intended for that and with (I
imagine) unusual constraints on planning mass exits. Do you happen to know
whether the fire safety aspect gets scrutinized?

~~~
kehrlann
Nothing gets scrutinized - it's illegal to go down there anyway. Folks down
there are not always safety conscious or very responsible :o)

Sometimes there are parties with tens or over a hundred people in a big room
that only has two crawl holes to exit it.

About fire safety, well it's pretty damp down there, mostly with rocks and
dirt. Can't picture a whole room catching fire... But I'm no expert in fire
safety.

~~~
adrianN
In a place with sufficiently tight exits like the crawl holes you mentioned,
it is enough if there is a little smoke to cause a panic. People will die from
being trampled even if there is no actual danger from the fire.

~~~
kehrlann
Home-made smoke bombs are a classic (and annoying) prank in the underground.
Fills an entire gallery in less than a minute:
[https://www.loupiote.com/photos_l/catacombes-de-paris-
cataco...](https://www.loupiote.com/photos_l/catacombes-de-paris-catacombs-
off-limit-area-508705416.jpg)

Parties I was talking about look like this: [https://youtu.be/6E-F-
cVqubU](https://youtu.be/6E-F-cVqubU)

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L_226
I have been down there, and not in the tourist section. There is some
interesting stuff, especially where cataphiles have excavated new sections.
The diverse array of art down there is also really nice. Unfortunately the
bone rooms have pretty much all been desecrated and a vastly different from
their original state. You can see a sort of 'high tide' mark on the walls
where the level of the bones were, and the current level which in many places
is at least one meter lower. This is for example in a radius 2m circular pit
(which I crawled through). Apparently people just take bones home for fun (?).
There is also a big throne made from long bones that have been tied together,
there are many photos online. All in all a pretty cool place, I will visit
again. Highlight was definitely my host cooking cheese fondue in an excavated
dining hall.

~~~
baud147258
I'd guess most "new sections" are just part of the Mines/Catacombs of Paris
whose access was previously blocked by the official organisation in charge of
them, the Inspection générale des carrières.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspection_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspection_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_des_carri%C3%A8res)

~~~
L_226
Maybe. I definitely saw people digging though, and I went through large
sections that were newly dug. This was in 2014. Also, sometimes new building
foundations are cut into the existing tunnels, and new tunnels are also dug
into building foundations. Interestingly, the cataphiles I spoke to strongly
'discouraged' theives from entering buildings in this way. Something about not
drawing undue attention from authorities.

~~~
baud147258
I heard that story of authorities blocking some tunnels and cataphiles
removing the blocks from someone who went down there; I don't know how
widespread it was.

~~~
kehrlann
It's a common game of cat and mice, still "played" to this day. When they can
be bothered enough, authorities will fill a section of a gallery with
concrete. And, in turn, when cataphiles can be bothered enough, they tear down
a piece of an adjacent wall and dig through the dirt on the other side to go
around the blocked section. I've also seen crawl holes dug under
1m-or-2m-thick rubble walls.

Amazing to see the length people will go to :')

------
trevyn
And the 8-minute above-ground version:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WJYOMFayruw](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WJYOMFayruw)

~~~
wukerplank
I've always kinda admired the French disregard for red traffic lights. Seems
for feasible for pedestrians than cars, though^^

~~~
seszett
This is a stunt though, and people had been posted at junctions with little
visibility.

But otherwise, it's not the first time I hear a comment similar to yours but
I'm always surprised because I have never ever seen anyone willfully disregard
a red traffic light in France. It seems to me that they are taken much more
seriously than they are in for example the US (where it's not rare to see one
or two cars getting through after the light has turned red, or just before it
turns green) or neighbouring countries like Belgium.

To me, red lights are the one traffic rule that is taken as an absolute thing
to respect in France. Maybe it's different in the south or Paris though, I
don't really know these places that well when it comes to driving.

~~~
petercooper
Only one, apparently, and their radio broke:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%27%C3%A9tait_un_rendez-
vous#...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%27%C3%A9tait_un_rendez-
vous#Production)

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basementcat
The underground theatre sounds like something UX (Urban eXperiment) would do.

[https://www.wired.com/2012/01/ff_ux/](https://www.wired.com/2012/01/ff_ux/)

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WoodDM
I treasure my copy of Atlas du Paris Soutterain. A second edition came out in
2016--check out amazon.fr

