tbt.

^^^ i think this is a common hashtag for the phrase "throwback thursday," right? well some friends of ours went to paris this week, so paris was on my mind EVEN MORE than it usually is. (guys, i'm not even joking, i think about it at least once a week.) and this story keeps coming to mind.

there we were, a fresh, young couple, madly in love, touring our favorite city together. i was a doe-eyed, eager beaver who was ready to adventure until morning and he was a seasoned, handsome tour guide who was ready to show the beaver around town. so we were in good spirits.. as you can see below. (looking back at our pictures i keep thinking "wow, we did a lot of cheesy poses and kissed a lot...." but i guess that's what you do when you're young and in love...?)

but in this city, we needed a couch to sleep on. so we bummed it with one of secret's friends, charles. what a delightful fellow!!! was truly one of the highlights of our time in paris. that man. a TRUE parisian. born and raised. as real as they get. i love him almost as much as i love my tour guide;)

anyway, well one night, we're all getting into our beds for the night (he had a studio, so we all picked a corner of the room and camped out there... good times..) and charles says to us: 

"hey, you guys wanna do something that no other tourist gets to do??"

"uh, duh. YES."

so we got out of bed, put on our shoes and followed him down the street to this manhole.

(picture taken the next morning.)

we get to the manhole and he pulls out a crowbar he had in his hoodie pocket (?), how didn't i notice that? well, i was young and in love, remember? and he pulls the manhole cover off and crawls down there.

secret's head is on a swivel looking for cops (as usual) and i'm already on my way down after charles. after secret came down, charles went back up the ladder, closed the manhole and left us there. 

we were there for 5 days. just waiting for charles to return. we thought for sure, he had left us to die.

JKKKKKKKK....... that was a total lie. but that's where you thought this was going, right???

no, charles just closed the manhole above us and we all went down the ladder into this super muggy, smelly, sticky tunnel.

we were legit under the streets of paris. we could hear the subways in the walls around us. (FREAKY.)

you know all those cool articles and books about the catacombs of paris? well we did that, just the unofficial tour and it was mind blowing.



at the end of this tunnel was a huge puddle of just city crap. water, mice poop, trash, dirt, etc. and the tunnel ended. or did it??

there was a small space in the top corner that was probably a square foot, and we all had to squeeze through it to get to the other part of the "catacombs" (we'll call it that.)

it was at that moment i thought, "amanda, if you die, your parents will be livid. this was the stupidest thing you've ever done. if there is a psycho down here, you have no weapon. if you fall into a pile of poop, you'll probably burn up immediately. this was a dumb idea."

but i was assured it was totally safe, as long as you don't dink around. peer pressure triumphs once again.

well, apparently going down into manholes was a "cool parisian" thing to do. people had been doing it for years and they'd even brought all this bar stuff down and created a party place. over the years they found a way to get electricity down there so they could power up their disco ball (yes, there really was one)!

the catacombs had kind of become this place for the street youths of paris to hang out and most likely get into trouble. exactly where parents don't want their kids going. 

(sorry, mom and dad. now that i'm a parent and reflecting on this i realize that it was totally stupid. BUTTTTTTTT kind of fun to talk about now. because seriously, abandoned parisian catacombs?? )

i was the literal definition of a scaredy cat on this adventure. i thought ted bundy was going to be reincarnated (obviously) and get me right there in the abandoned bar area under the eiffel tower. what a way to go. 

i clung onto secret like a little baby. that's probably why he had so much fun;)

cool fact: if you've read les miserables, they mention the catacombs of paris and the street names listed under the streets. well that's a real thing. the streets are also named under ground so you know where you're going and don't get lost.

seriously, right out of a horror movie right?

also, i don't know what parisians' obsession with the goonies is all about. can someone explain that to me?

well after about 2 hours of exploring underground, seeing a few bones (no joke) and a few rats, we emerged from that manhole like rats ourselves.

i always wish i could've been on the street watching the manhole pop up and a dirty man emerge. i think i would've peed my pants in fear, because that would've been hilariously scary.

and we went home, and went to bed.

that is one of my fondest memories of our early courtship, especially in paris. and children, as you read this, i want you to have fun adventures of your own! go have fun. but don't ever pull anything dumb like this, you hear? i will just shake my head if i ever hear you got attacked by a psycho after crawling down a manhole.

only idiots who are young and in love pull stunts like that.