The Sewer Tour - today we took a walking tour with a guide through Paris's Sewer Museum. Yes - you go down into the top level of the sewers. And, yes - it is stinky. But I have wanted to do it for a while, and going with the guide was nice to hear all about it. We started above ground near the Seine and discussed how the river originally was the sewer. How it was used for various commercial ventures such as washing and tanning. How it was so polluted during medieval times. And how it was also the source of drinking water for Parisians!
It all changed with Napoleon III and Haussmann. They not only developed the large boulevards above the surface, but also the network of sewers below - about 600 kilometers by 1878. Our guide told us how Paris's celebrated sewers became such a showplace that they hosted visitors in small barges to view the works. We learned how the person actually responsible for creating the network, Eugene Belgrand, took advantage of the natural slope of Paris and gravity to drain to the Northwest. He also determined how to use oval shaped viaducts for maximum flow. Our guide, Chris, told us of the roll the sewers played in literature and history - they had important rolls during the revolution and wars as passages and also means of communication. Noblemen with swords would ditch them in a sewer if they encountered revolutionary police, and then try to recover them later from the sewer workers. Nowadays, if you loose your keys down a sewer, the French have a special group that will retrieve them for you within 1/2 hour (so Chris says - don't think I'll test it).
Chris explained how separate channels can be used for heavy rainfall run-off, separate from actual sewage. And, he indicated that there is a 4 year waiting list to become a sewer worker - who works 6 hours/day for a premium wage and is eligible to retire after 20 years with a 60% pension Today, the Seine is once again fairly pristine. It is monitored constantly, and even salmon have once again appeared in the river. A portion of the city gets its drinking water from the Seine today. All in all, pretty interesting. But, unlike the Louvre and D'Orsay, I don't think I'll need to visit des Egouts Museum again!
Cheers.
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