The Paris Sewer Museum

On each trip to Paris we have done something cool and weird. On our first and last trip we visited Père Lachaise Cemetery, on our second trip we went to the Catacombs, and on this most recent trip we went to the Museum of Hunting & Nature (Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature) and the Sewer Museum (Musée des Égouts de Paris).

A museum about the sewers may not sound that awesome to anyone else, but I found it while Google Mapping a day during my planning phase. At just 9€ a person, it was very affordable and totally different from anything else we've ever done. I wanted to do a handful of non-touristy things this trip and this appeared to fit the bill.

If you passed the museum on the street (it's located in a park right on the Seine), you probably wouldn't give it a second look. There's not a ton of stuff around it, but it's situated a few steps from the Pont de l'Alma and across the street from a Metro station and a Pierre Hermé location that serves macarons and ice cream. There's a great public water fountain right out front. This was one of the only places where the employees didn't speak English, so if you have a timed ticket that doesn't work - because you're early, like we were - you will have to explain your situation to the person at the front desk.

Once inside, we were immersed in the literal sewer and its history. Paris, having the first real sewage system, has had a tour in the sewers almost since the sewer was built. People were so enthralled by this new service that they wanted to see how it worked. So many people, in fact, that they built boats for tours and charged people admission. At some point, they stopped giving tours, and then turned this portion of the sewer into a (working) museum and then allowed people back to learn history on their own, instead of through guided tours by sanitation workers. 

Now, I'll tell you that I read the reviews of the museum before I purchased tickets and the most memorable, which actually pushed me to buy the tickets, was one that said "I only saw one sewer rat on my tour. I thought I'd see more, so this was disappointing." Now, I'm aware this was a working sewer and might contain rats and other unsavory things, but it's also a museum and amazingly clean. We actually did see a rat also, but it was far away and never came any closer to us down the tunnel. 

If you are afraid of rats, mice, bugs, are claustrophobic, or have a very sensitive nose, this is not a tour for you. We wore masks the entire time, but I did briefly take mine down to smell the air when I heard two people retching further down a tunnel section, but it honestly didn't smell worse down there either. Yes, it's a working sewer and yes it smells weird, but I didn't find it overpowering and off-putting. Some sections are worse than others, but still not enough to deter me from finishing the tour.

You follow a guide of numbered plaques that tell you about each section you're in. If you only speak/read English, there is a take-along guide for you to follow along. We took turns being a tour guide for each other and telling each other about the different pipes and waterways and cool dredger boats and sewer balls (giant rubber, wooden, or iron spheres that help clean the waterways - seen below). 

You'll also see old wooden dredgers and manholes (what you'd see under a manhole cover) and all the different pipes and digital equipment used now to monitor water levels. 

Some sections are very large and some are barely tall enough for a man to stand up in. You are not permitted to go through some tunnels, which would lead you into the labyrinthine pipe system where only trained sanitation workers dare to go.

Each section is a mirror of a street or walkway above ground and each street has a street sign in the sewer tunnels, which is kind of amazing and shockingly organized for what I expected. 

At the end of your tour, you can sit and watch a video about the inner workings of the French sewer system and see how it works through illustrations and illustrated maps. It's all in French, but if you paid attention to the tour guide or speak even a little French you can get the gist of it

After you've watched the video, or skipped it, there are small models, interactive videos, and old sanitation worker equipment and protective gear. There's also a small gift shop with some cool things in it. We purchased some postcards and t-shirts (only 8 euros!) and some other little things, but they have mugs, glasses, books, and more. We highly recommend this weird and informative activity. It only takes about an hour to walk through, but it's definitely worth it, and it's easy to get to.

Have you loved a "hidden gem" attraction on your travels that you wish more people knew about?

Travel Tips for Great Fall Trips

Fall is here! Now's the best time to travel to a lot of places, because airfare and hotel deals are less expensive than other times of the year. We tend to do a lot of things in the fall, including going on our big yearly vacation. It saves us money this way and the kids are all in school, so there are smaller crowds and fewer lines everywhere we go. 

Want to make the most out of your fall? Then here are some fun ways to celebrate the season and Halloween. We did some of these things on our recent trip to France.

Head to New England

There are few places where you can go that are truly scary, but the New England area has a ton of history that includes witches, horror writers, massacres and more. This post gives you all the awesome things to do there. Rent a car, stay for a few weeks and drive to all kinds of awesome stuff.

Hit up New Orleans

New Orleans is quite exciting and not just during Mardi Gras. There are plenty of things to do in the fall, especially considering the spooky vibe of the city including the history of voodoo and vampire legends. here are some fun things to check out. For haunted experiences, you may want to visit these 5 places:

• The Omni Royal Hotel - Once the building for the city’s slave market and the site of great brutality, the hotel is now a grand place to stay and home to many spirits. 
• The Bourbon Orleans - This former orphanage run by nuns still has kids running along its corridors. Guests have reported hearing children’s voices, seeing nuns in the hallways and feeling electrical charges near the stairwells.
• Brennan’s New Orleans - A staple of the city since 1946, Brennan’s is not only a highly rated fine dining establishment, but it also has its own ghosts. In the Red Room, a man living in the building hanged himself after murdering his family. 
• The Pharmacy Museum - Set on the site of the very first apothecary shop, the Pharmacy Museum holds a wide variety of cures and artifacts from old medical practices and voodoo rituals, including ghastly instruments used in the past for dentistry, many by the former owner, a dentist known to conduct grisly experiments on patients.
• St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 - Nearly everyone has heard of the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau and you can visit her tomb in New Orleans’ most haunted cemetery. Hundreds of thousands are buried in this one square block, with the tombs being reused over and over. 

Pumpkin harvest

I don't really get excited by pumpkin carving. That might be a little weird for someone who loves Halloween as much as I do. I just don't find it fun and I don't make pies, but often the harvest festivals are full of pumpkin-picking and other activities like hayrides, squash-tossing, farm animals and more. 

If you find a corn maze, it's not unusual for there to be pumpkin harvest festivities going on nearby. Kids love to run and pick out the pumpkin they will use for their jack-o-lantern at home and also enjoy running and around and climbing on things. We have farms that feature hay bale pyramids and tours on a farm train. Usually these days out are fairly affordable and you can even sign up to receive coupons when the celebration starts.

Corn maze

I look forward to the corn mazes all year long. It's so fun to go out and spend an afternoon on local farms and get lost in a maze of maize! We pack up the car with a change of clothes and the dog and hope there's no mud where we will have to use those extra clothes and shoes and towels, but if we do, we're prepared. The mazes test our ability to read a map or our trivia knowledge. While other families split up and race each other through the maze, we view it as a fun family outing and the three of us go together. Sometimes we just let the dog go and pick our course and sometimes we use whatever clues they give us at the beginning. After we emerge from the corn, we make a trip to the gift shop, grab something warm to eat and drink and then head home. There are always great photo ops.

Farmers' market

This is similar to you-pick farms, except you can just go with your list and have fun finding them at the different stalls. Another plus to the markets is that you are getting affordable local foods and you can usually pick up lunch from any number of food merchants there, too. Our market up the street is a great place to get everything from crepes to tamales. When you're traveling, it's a perfect way to stock your fridge with healthy options for snacks and side dishes.

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Fruit picking

I love fresh fruits and vegetables. I also love to visit local farms. I'm always amazed by what people can grow. I have my own garden, but it's not big and awesome, so I like to get ideas on how to make it better. Many of these farms let you go pick your own fresh produce. You pay by the pound and often they have a store where they sell jams, sauces, and other things they make on-site. These make great gifts and souvenirs as well.

Wine and beer festivals

Right after the grape and wheat harvests come the festivals! Food, wine, beer, you name it. Fall has tons of wine and beer celebrations everywhere they serve such things. Find new favorites when you can sample all the local (and some not-so-local) varietals and brews. Most of these fests require you to buy a glass for your samples, so you already have a built-in souvenir, too!

Head Underground

Lots of weird stuff happens underground. Here are three I greatly enjoy:

• The Shanghai Tunnels under Portland. They were featured on Travel Channel’s 10 Most Haunted. Though it came in at number 10, it was the only Portland site to make the list, so by simple reasoning, it must make it Portland’s most haunted site. I was disappointed that I didn’t experience so much as a cold breeze, nor did I catch anything on my camera, unless you count dust particles catching the light of my flash and presenting themselves as “glowing orbs”, but maybe you'll be luckier (if you think it's lucky to see/feel a ghost) than I. 
• The Dungeons are on my list of kitchy and kinda scary (if you're afraid of the dark and mirror mazes where you might be followed) and must-do attractions. The site offers best price guarantee and you can get discounted deals if you purchase a combination ticket with Madame Tussaud's and/or the London Eye. If you plan to visit off-peak hours, you can save up to 50%! You must purchase your tickets online though. Each dungeon (located in London, Edinburgh, Blackpool, York, Alton Towers, Warwick Castle, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, and Shanghai) walks you through the "streets" of history and winds you through creepy stories and rides that take you from one area of the dungeon to another.
• Paris Catacombs. There are miles of underground tunnels underneath Paris full of human bones that were put there when the cemeteries became overcrowded. Even now they are still crowded, but with tourists. Get there right at opening and beat the crowds. Lines can stretch up to 2 hours long and with prices at only 13-15 euros per person, it's one of the cheaper things you can do in France. And if you're looking for something interesting, but not scary (unless possibly seeing a rat or a bug scares you), the Paris Sewer Museum is a cool underground self-guided tour that's only 9 euros, and I promise there are no skeletons.

Go to a theme park

Most theme parks have a Halloween celebration of some sort. Here are the top ones, including how to save on admission if there's a way to:

• Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Many park days at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland in Sept-Nov are cut short for this party that requires a special ticket to get in. From 7pm to midnight, many of the park guests come dressed in costume to enjoy 5 hours of trick-or-treating, dancing, nighttime thrill rides (only specific rides will be open during that time, not the whole park), Hall-o-wishes fireworks display, an all-villain musical show in front of the castle, villain meet and greets, amazing park decorations and, best of all, a special parade opened with the Headless Horseman on horseback. It’s all totally Disney and so out of their normal festivities that it’s worth putting off your vacation until that time of year.
• Knott's presents Knott's Scary Farm. Save significantly on your tickets by buying them online instead of at the gate.
• Universal puts on Halloween Horror Nights. While ticket prices don't waver, you're sure to get your money's worth while riding select rides and being scared out of your wits with roaming creeps, themed haunted houses and scare zones. It's like being in your very own horror movie. 
• Busch Gardens in Tampa offers up Howl-o-Scream. Much like Universal, they have scare zones, haunted houses and themed entertainment. You can't get cheaper tickets for this event either, but it'll scare your pants off, which you maybe can't put a price on.
• Legoland has spooky fun for the little ones with Brick-or-Treat. It includes trick or treating and the opportunity to dress-up and enjoy the park after it closes for the regular day. Tickets are separate from the main park admission, but totally fun!

What are some of your favorite ways to celebrate fall? If you missed my trip to Halloweentown, go check that out now. 

Paris's Père Lachaise Cemetery

It's no secret that I adore a good cemetery and if there's one at my destination, I'm going to go out of my way to check it out. It's been 16 years since we've visited Paris for our honeymoon (as part of a larger London trip) and strolled through Père Lachaise Cemetery. It's the largest cemetery in Paris and is the final resting place of famous people like Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison.

The cemetery is so large that you can get a map, as it also has streets with names to find your way around. Many of the tombs are large family tombs that are ornate and have their own space for familial visitors to pay their respects. Many have stained glass and other embellishments that make them unique and beautiful. 

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Oddly, every day of vacation was sunny and warm, except for the morning we visited the cemetery, where it was overcast and rainy. Perfect tomb-viewing weather in my opinion. 

Père Lachaise opened in 1804, as a solution to all the Paris cemeteries being full. Unfortunately, it was situated too far from the city and also wasn't blessed by the church, so many people refused burial there. To combat this problem, two prominent French poets' remains were moved to Père Lachaise. This proved to do the trick and it became more and more popular to bury your loved ones there. In fact, it has been expanded 5 times since it first opened.

Over the years, Paris grew larger until Père Lachaise was situated well within the city, along with the other 3 cemeteries (Montparnasse, Montmartre, and the smaller Passy, which came a bit later) that were opened around the same time for the same reason. Of course now it can be extremely difficult to get a space in Père Lachaise, though there are quite a few newer plots there at this time. It doesn't take away from the historical feel though. 

There are over 1,000,000 "residents" in the cemetery and that doesn't include all the people who were cremated and call the columbarium their home in death. You can visit the crematorium, though we didn't do it on this trip. We've probably spent a combined total of 5 hours at Père Lachaise and haven't even seen 10% of the graves there - at least not in depth. 

I feel like the dead should have their final resting places appreciated by more than just their family members and I tend to spend extra time really taking in the details. Many of their relatives who tend to the upkeep of their tombs and religiously bring flowers may have never met them either, but I have the opportunity of viewing it for the first time. 

Oscar Wilde's tombstone, which is unusual as he was

If you ever find yourself in Paris and can spare a few hours, I highly suggest a stroll around Père Lachaise. It's a wonderfully gothic, romantic (or creepy) way to spend your time, and if there are any ghosts lingering around, think of how happy you'll make them by stopping by their home in the afterlife and appreciating the architecture.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time on our trip to also visit Montparnasse and Montmartre as planned, but hopefully will on a future visit. We were able to visit the tombs at the Panthéon and the plot of Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore at the Westminster Burying Grounds in the Westminster churchyard. 

Do you enjoy visiting graveyards, crypts, catacombs, or cemeteries on your travels?