A few nights ago I promised another picture of an old thing in Paris -- this one happens to be super duper old. The French have a profound love of history. Heck, their entire country is a museum and they speak a museum language. Underneath the main plaza of Notre Dame Cathedral on Ile de la Cite, there exists this excavation of basements from the Roman era, more than 2,000 years earlier. The excavation was done during the 1960s. Hypocaust heating systems moved warm air behind walls and under floors for radiant heat. Man, these people could think. Now, I know exactly what you're thinking. This real estate looks like it's in rough shape. But consider that it's lasted through every Pope. At the back of the exhibit in approximately the direction this photo is facing is an excavation, about three meters below, of some oldest quays along the Seine.
4 thoughts on “From the old things in Paris files”
speaking of radiant teat…
Heat, teat. I’ve actually never used the word teat. I’ve used a lot of words…but never that one.
Ahhhh…Mother Earth provides the “teat”. Noticed it’s corrected now.
This Cap would love to go spelunking underground, even if I’ve never spelunk’d above ground. 🙂 Have dreamed of exploring underground Rome since I saw an article ten years ago in The Atlantic about such tours. Now that Pluto is in my sign, I should make this a goal.
speaking of radiant teat…
Heat, teat. I’ve actually never used the word teat. I’ve used a lot of words…but never that one.
Ahhhh…Mother Earth provides the “teat”. Noticed it’s corrected now.
This Cap would love to go spelunking underground, even if I’ve never spelunk’d above ground. 🙂 Have dreamed of exploring underground Rome since I saw an article ten years ago in The Atlantic about such tours. Now that Pluto is in my sign, I should make this a goal.
Re-read your accompanying text… “radiant teat”?
… … …
:-}