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April 23, 2021 1:19 PM Subscribe
High-speed bike tour of the Paris catacombs, via a helmet-mounted go-pro. Featuring: a lot of graffiti. Not for the claustrophobic.
y2karl: As an American, I thought "I wonder if it smells like pee." We have no souls.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:45 PM on April 23, 2021
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:45 PM on April 23, 2021
The moment where he rides down a narrow staircase deeper into the catacombs brought me back to the harrowing moments of As Above So Below. The descent into a never ending maze that was so clearly built by successive generations of human hands and yet so desolate, empty and forbidding is one that still haunts me.
I hope he brought a rope to recover his bike with.
posted by Leeway at 4:06 PM on April 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
I hope he brought a rope to recover his bike with.
posted by Leeway at 4:06 PM on April 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
Is this really the catacombs, or part of the sewer system? When I toured the catacombs, there were skeletons everywhere and I saw no sign of them here.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:01 PM on April 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:01 PM on April 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Before he even gets to the catacombs, he's racing his bike on pedestrian sidewalks, so I would have been perfectly OK with a crazed cannibal ambushing him in the tunnels.
posted by Beholder at 5:21 PM on April 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Beholder at 5:21 PM on April 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
My first thought was "how are these catacombs so clean?" The second thought was that I would have smacked my head into a low-hanging chunk of stone in my first couple of minutes in the tunnels. Fun to watch, though.
posted by sysinfo at 5:36 PM on April 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by sysinfo at 5:36 PM on April 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In case you were wondering, it's the same creepy mannequin showing up at ~0:55 and ~1:49.
Is this really the catacombs, or part of the sewer system? When I toured the catacombs, there were skeletons everywhere and I saw no sign of them here.
There's the Catacombs of Paris, where you can pay money and see bones, and there's the Catacombs of Paris, which are illegal to enter and cross under the entire city. The former is a subset of the latter.
posted by miguelcervantes at 8:24 PM on April 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
Is this really the catacombs, or part of the sewer system? When I toured the catacombs, there were skeletons everywhere and I saw no sign of them here.
There's the Catacombs of Paris, where you can pay money and see bones, and there's the Catacombs of Paris, which are illegal to enter and cross under the entire city. The former is a subset of the latter.
posted by miguelcervantes at 8:24 PM on April 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
How ARE they so clean?
posted by aniola at 8:59 PM on April 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 8:59 PM on April 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Is this really the catacombs, or part of the sewer system?
As per miguelcervantes, this is a romp through a vast network of chambers, galleries, passages and the occasional lake (which I didn't see in the video, odd he would have left that out - though maybe it no longer exists?) which riddle the souterrain of Paris, entirely separate of the sewer system.
Spent many teenage hours down there; it's always been kept fairly clean, I guess urban splunkers have always had a neat streak.
posted by progosk at 1:55 AM on April 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
As per miguelcervantes, this is a romp through a vast network of chambers, galleries, passages and the occasional lake (which I didn't see in the video, odd he would have left that out - though maybe it no longer exists?) which riddle the souterrain of Paris, entirely separate of the sewer system.
Spent many teenage hours down there; it's always been kept fairly clean, I guess urban splunkers have always had a neat streak.
posted by progosk at 1:55 AM on April 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
As per miguelcervantes, this is a romp through a vast network of chambers, galleries, passages and the occasional lake (which I didn't see in the video, odd he would have left that out - though maybe it no longer exists?) which riddle the souterrain of Paris, entirely separate of the sewer system.
Woah. Why were these made?
posted by geegollygosh at 6:48 AM on April 24, 2021
Woah. Why were these made?
posted by geegollygosh at 6:48 AM on April 24, 2021
They were originally quarries. (And subsequently repurposed for various functions, including during wartime, of course.)
posted by progosk at 8:11 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by progosk at 8:11 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Is there also a drone or second cyclist doing filming? I thought it was a second helmet-mounted cam but it's SOOO smooth. How do you get a drone to follow someone like that?
posted by Snowishberlin at 8:37 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Snowishberlin at 8:37 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I had the same question, Snowishberlin. There are a lot of shots from one side of the cyclist, or from several feet behind him. Another cyclist?
posted by doctornemo at 10:41 AM on April 24, 2021
posted by doctornemo at 10:41 AM on April 24, 2021
Nice video.
Brought to mind Robert Macfarlane's excellent Underland: A Deep Time Journey.
posted by doctornemo at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2021
Brought to mind Robert Macfarlane's excellent Underland: A Deep Time Journey.
posted by doctornemo at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2021
eponhysterical:
The moment where he rides down a narrow staircase deeper into the catacombs brought me back to the harrowing moments of As Above So Below
posted by Leeway
posted by doctornemo at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
The moment where he rides down a narrow staircase deeper into the catacombs brought me back to the harrowing moments of As Above So Below
posted by Leeway
posted by doctornemo at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
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The Effects of Toluene on the Central Nervous System...
Which suggests an enormous long term public health problem looms in Paris.
posted by y2karl at 3:06 PM on April 23, 2021