{"id":613,"date":"2010-10-01T07:27:36","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T21:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meganix.net\/pavement\/?p=613"},"modified":"2012-06-24T18:01:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T08:01:27","slug":"manhole-covers-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meganix.net\/pavement\/2010\/10\/01\/manhole-covers-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Manhole covers (3)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Manhole cover in Avenue Bosquet<\/p><\/div>\n

I have a certain fondness for manhole covers. They are reminders that the pavement is not only a floor but a roof \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the roof of a busy world of tunnels, tubes, chambers and canals; of light, electricity, water and workers. Manhole covers are shutters on the skylights in this roof.<\/p>\n

Readers of this blog will know that earlier this year I was lucky enough to do a tour of the underground Tank Stream in Sydney, and to photograph several manhole covers from below<\/a>. But now I have gone one better \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I have toured the sewers of Paris, or at least a small section of them. Parisians are justifiably proud of their sewer network, their \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccity beneath the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, designed and built in the mid-1800s. So proud that they have a museum \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Le Mus\u00c3\u00a9e des \u00c3\u2030gouts -\u00c2\u00a0 where, descending beneath the street of Quai d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Orsay, you can walk through tunnels with drinkable and non-drinkable water flowing through pipes beside you, and a river of sewage running along canals beneath you. In the photograph below on the left you can see the tunnel lights reflected in this river.<\/p>\n

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Bruneseau Gallery of the Paris Sewer Museum<\/p><\/div>\n

I tried to find a manhole cover that I could photograph from below but the best I could do was the iron stairway leading up to one. I could not stretch my arm far enough beyond the museum barrier to photograph the cover itself.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, when I returned to the fresh air of the street, I walked along Avenue Bosquet and, assuming that I paced the distance out correctly, found the manhole cover I had nearly photographed in the chamber below.<\/p>\n

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Steps beneath manhole in Avenue Bosquet<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a certain fondness for manhole covers. They are reminders that the pavement is not only a floor but a roof \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the roof of a busy world of tunnels, tubes, chambers and canals; of light, electricity, water and workers. Manhole covers are shutters on the skylights in this roof. Readers of this blog <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,85,98],"tags":[31,91],"class_list":["post-613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-city","category-furniture","category-underground","tag-manhole-covers","tag-paris"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t