So capacious was the main sewer constructed underneath the city that journeys along it in what was described as ‘a veritable gondola with carpeted floor and cushioned seats, lit up by large lamps’ were offered to adventurous tourists. ‘No foreigner of distinction’, noted the Larousse dictionary proudly in 1870, ‘wants to leave the city without making this singular trip’, and female tourists were as welcome as male: ‘The presence of lovely women,’ commented an American tourist, ‘can add a charm to the sewer.’ The Paris sewers even appealed to the literary-minded, who could thrill to the thought
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