# EP 2 | Les catacombes (The catacombs)

An episode of [The Learn French With Alexa Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/120975641), 24 Sep 2026, 36 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/113190190/podcast/play/126128472/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-8-22%2F432422063-44100-2-dad22f4284829.mp3

In episode 2, host Alexa (Learn French With Alexa) is joined by the lovely Satie and Liam, who talk about the Paris Catacombs, while also strengthening their B1 French skills. Join us on this journey where we practise our French listening skills, enhance our vocabulary and enrich our French cultural knowledge in fun, casual discussions! Want more practice? Check out the podcast page on our website! There you'll find a support guide for the lesson and the audio file. If you have any questions, please email our amazing customer support team at support@learnfrenchwithalexa.com

## Transcript

[0:00] I saw kids. Did you?
[0:01] Yeah. Why would you take kids in the
[0:04] catacomb? Why would you take kids into the
[0:07] catacomb? Bonjour et bienvenue à notre
[0:10] podcast, Learn French with Alexa.
[0:13] Today, I have my two favourite guests.
[0:18] Satie, bonjour, Satie. Bonjour.
[0:21] Liam, bonjour. Bonjour.
[0:23] Just to remind you, if you are jumping straight into episode 2
[0:27] and not episode 1, Satie is a pupil of mine.
[0:32] Oui. And Liam is ...
[0:36] An employee. I work here at Learn French with
[0:38] Alexa. Yeah.
[0:39] Well, you're more than an employee.
[0:41] You're my producer/makeup artist... a lot of things.
[0:45] Therapist. Therapist.
[0:47] Yeah. All kind, you know.
[0:50] Yeah. Now, today, guys, same format as
[0:55] the first episode. We are going to talk about a- Is
[1:01] it going to be less gruesome than last time?
[1:03] It's going to be as gruesome as last time.
[1:05] As gruesome. Exactly.
[1:06] And it's following up to our conversation as the first
[1:09] episode. Right.
[1:10] Though you don't need to have listened to the first episode to
[1:15] listen to that. Learn French with Alexa teaches
[1:18] French, so we have to have an element of teaching.
[1:21] I'm going to read a text in French, ask you two questions,
[1:25] which you will attempt to answer, and then we'll talk
[1:29] about words that you may find difficult based on this, or
[1:35] facts about this very topic. Okay.
[1:39] Are you ready, guys? Yes, I'm excited.
[1:42] I'm ready. Great.
[1:42] Well, I think as soon as you're going to hear the title, you're
[1:46] going to understand what it's about.
[1:48] So now- Wait, can I put ... Yeah.
[1:51] Is it going to be about the catacombs?
[1:54] The ca-acombs. What was that?
[1:57] What was that? That's what I heard.
[2:01] That's so rude. Was it like a spin of a southern
[2:09] London- Catacombs ... London?
[2:10] The catacombs. I thought it sounded Northern.
[2:12] Oh, really? Yeah.
[2:14] Catacombs. Catacombs.
[2:17] The catacombs. Catacombs.
[2:18] Apologies. The catacombs.
[2:25] The catacombs. Is it?
[2:28] Yes. What are you going to do?
[2:30] It is. Apart from that.
[2:32] You're going to be told off for bullying this episode.
[2:37] Okay. Les Catacombes de Paris.
[2:40] Absolutely. So let's learn a little bit
[2:44] about Paris catacombs. Sorry.
[2:45] Just every time it's going to be funny.
[2:48] Ou la ville sous la ville. So do you understand that title?
[2:52] La ville sous la ville. The city or the town under the
[2:57] town. Exactly.
[2:58] Mm-hmm. Okay.
[3:00] So the first question I could ask you about this text is: Quel
[3:03] est le gros problème de Paris ? Quel est le gros problème de
[3:07] Paris au 18e siècle ? Quel est le gros problème de
[3:12] Paris au 18e siècle? Another question I will ask you
[3:16] about the text is : Combien d'ossements trouve-t-on dans les
[3:22] catacombes ? Combien d'ossements trouve-t-on
[3:25] dans les catacombes ? I think I know what
[3:28] "d'ossements" means, but I'm not entirely certain.
[3:30] Ossements. Okay.
[3:32] Alors, ossements- Yeah ... c'est le mot.
[3:35] D'accord. Qu'est-ce que tu crois que ça
[3:36] veut dire ? Are you confident in that?
[3:40] I'm lost. No.
[3:40] I think it's got something to do with bones.
[3:43] Ah. Oui.
[3:44] Because it's "os". "Os".
[3:46] "Os". Oh, okay.
[3:47] "Os" is a- "Un os" is a bone, and weirdly, when you put it in
[3:53] the plural form, it's "des os". So you don't pronounce it the
[3:57] same way. Mm.
[3:58] It's spelled the same way, O-S, but you don't pronounce it the
[4:01] same way. Mm.
[4:01] So "un os, des os". Okay.
[4:05] Donc combien. How many bones?
[4:07] Oui. Combien d'os.
[4:08] We don't have a word in English like that.
[4:10] Pour ossements, non. For a collection of bones.
[4:12] A collection of bones. No, that's so true.
[4:16] Mm. That's so true, actually.
[4:19] "Ossements" could be ... If I search "ossements", it
[4:27] comes up as "ossement". No, well, that's not- In
[4:32] English. Do you know that word?
[4:33] No. I've never heard of that word.
[4:36] Maybe it's a literary word ... maybe it is ...
[4:37] I don't know. Okay.
[4:38] Or maybe it's a specific word. I mean, you could take those
[4:41] words. I don't really deal with piles
[4:42] of bones in my everyday life. No, no.
[4:44] Sort of. It's not in my vocabulary.
[4:45] So maybe it is a commonly used word in that industry.
[4:48] In the bone industry. In the bone industry.
[4:52] Okay. Here we go.
[4:53] First question, what is the biggest problem for Paris?
[4:57] And second, how many bones are there in the catacombs?
[5:04] Oh, God. Yeah, I'm just not going to
[5:05] speak for the rest of the podcast.
[5:07] But please speak, you are highly entertaining.
[5:09] Okay, here we go. A la fin du 18e siècle, Paris a
[5:15] un gros problème. Les cimetières sont trop pleins,
[5:18] et cela commence à poser de gros soucis d'hygiène pour les
[5:23] habitants de la ville. Une solution insolite est
[5:27] trouvée : utiliser d'anciennes carrières souterraines situées
[5:33] dans le 14e arrondissement. Entre 1786 et 1788, les
[5:41] autorités y transportent des millions d'ossements.
[5:46] On estime que les restes de plus de 6 millions de personnes y
[5:52] sont conservés, dont ceux de personnalités telles que Charles
[5:58] Perrault, Robespierre et Danton, mais aussi François Rabelais.
[6:05] Okay. So that's the first reading.
[6:07] How was that for you? I found that text really
[6:09] challenging. Yeah.
[6:10] Do you know why? Because the level is B1+.
[6:14] So B1+ you start being quite serious about it- Yeah ... when
[6:19] you reach B1+, yeah. I understood most of it, I
[6:23] think, but ... I think sometimes as well, with
[6:25] French numbers, I'm so concentrated on trying to work
[6:28] out what the English number is- Yeah ...
[6:30] I miss other parts of the sentence.
[6:31] So do you remember the number that I said?
[6:34] Could you figure out? The date or the number?
[6:37] Yeah, the date. I give a date at one point.
[6:40] Oh, 17 something something. 17 something something.
[6:43] That's very- Two, yeah ... Two something.
[6:46] So 17 something something. 17 something something.
[6:50] If you say the number again- Yeah ... just that bit of the
[6:53] sentence without saying anything else- Yeah ... then I can work
[6:55] it out. Do you want to hear the numbers
[6:58] again? Sure.
[6:59] Now, 1786 à 1788. You have to do maths.
[7:06] Mille = 1000 Yeah. Sept-cent = 700, quatre-vingt...
[7:11] six. 4x20+6. Yeah, 4x20+6 is
[7:16] quatre-vingt-six. He's good at that, with French
[7:17] numbers. Quatre-vingt-six.
[7:18] Yeah. Et 1788, same, it's- ...
[7:23] One thousand, seven hundred, eighty-eight.
[7:26] So 4x20+8. Yeah.
[7:27] Okay. So remember that when we say 80
[7:30] in French, we say 4x20. Quatre-vingt.
[7:32] Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[7:32] So 83, 4x20+3. Quatre-vingt-trois.
[7:36] Okay. Yeah.
[7:36] Anyway, so: Quel est le gros problème de Paris ?
[7:42] Oh, I didn't totally get this, but something about the
[7:47] cemeteries in Paris, and it was bad for the people who lived
[7:51] there. Mm-hmm.
[7:52] But something ... You said a word- ... that I
[7:54] didn't understand, like "d'hygiène" or something.
[7:56] Okay. Donc il y a des problèmes
[7:57] d'hygiène. Pourquoi il y a des problèmes
[7:58] d'hygiène ? What does "hygiène" mean?
[8:00] I'm not sure. On a déjà- I remember- On a déjà
[8:04] appris ce mot-là- I know ... pendant le premier épisode I
[8:08] don't remember it. Okay.
[8:09] "Hygiène", hygiene. Oh.
[8:11] Oh. Oh, yeah.
[8:13] "Hygiène". Yeah.
[8:13] Yeah. Okay.
[8:14] What is it with Paris and hygiene?
[8:16] Well, what is it with any big towns and hygiene?
[8:19] Yeah. Yeah.
[8:20] In any, especially in- So something about cemetery being
[8:24] overfilled- That's it ... and hygiene- Exactly ... affecting
[8:27] residents. Yeah.
[8:27] Very good job. How does that work?
[8:29] Yeah. Donc c'était un gros problème à
[8:30] Paris. Le gros problème, c'est que les
[8:33] cimetières sont trop pleins. Cemeteries are too filled up.
[8:38] Yeah. Why is that hygiene- It now
[8:40] comes- Oh ... it's a big problem- Why?
[8:45] ... hygiene and decomposing bodies.
[8:47] Well, because- But they're all under the ground, though.
[8:49] Well, no, but that's ... No, especially if you rely on
[8:55] water and sewers, and things like that.
[8:57] So, I think at that point, the hygiene comes from the
[9:01] decomposing bodies and the fact that it's filtering through
[9:04] water and things, and we are drinking the water- Well, how is
[9:07] the water- ... from the Seine River- Okay ... potentially.
[9:10] I don't know. But this is another podcast, and
[9:13] I'm going to ask my creator to find out more about the sewage
[9:18] in Paris. I'm sure they were open graves
[9:20] or something like that. Oh, okay.
[9:21] The mass open graves- Because I don't, yeah ... that caused the
[9:23] problem. Right.
[9:23] Because it would be the smell polluting the air- Yeah ... and
[9:26] obviously nature, and sewage and things.
[9:28] So the origin of the Catacombs of Paris, so the Catacombes de
[9:33] Paris, go back to a tragic accident in 1764.
[9:40] Do you understand 1764? 17- 1764. 1774. 1764.
[9:48] Oh, no. Yeah.
[9:49] So 70 is 60+10, and 74 will be 60+14. ...
[9:55] Why couldn't the French just make up another word for 70 and
[9:58] 80? Yeah, I agree with you.
[10:00] Yeah. No, I don't know.
[10:02] Anyway, so a big tragic accident in the 1770s, where you have a
[10:09] huge chasm swallowing up houses on the street near the Place de
[10:16] Denfert-Rochereau. And so what's happening is that
[10:21] some of the cemeteries as well are being engulfed in- Oh ...
[10:27] and walls collapsing, which means that some of the walls
[10:35] collapsing were retaining cemeteries.
[10:37] So you have all these "ossements" Mm ... these bones
[10:44] being there. And so they've got to find a
[10:47] solution of where to put those "ossements".
[10:51] Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[10:54] And so, le cimetière insalubre. Do you understand insalubre?
[11:01] Spell it. Can you spell it, please?
[11:02] Can you use it in a sentence? In English or in French?
[11:04] Use it in a sentence and then in ...
[11:06] What do you mean? In French.
[11:08] Insalubre, I-N-S-A-L-U-B-R-E. Donc, les cimetières insalubres
[11:16] et surpeuplés de la ville furent ainsi condamnés.
[11:21] On a fermé les cimetières parce qu'ils étaient insalubres.
[11:26] Like something about unhygienic. That's it.
[11:28] Unsanitary. Yes.
[11:29] Yes. Very good.
[11:30] Bravo. Come on.
[11:32] Et surpeuplés. Surpeuplés.
[11:36] Surpeuplés? So can you please use it in a
[11:39] sentence? Les cimetières étaient
[11:41] surpeuplés ou la ville est surpeuplée.
[11:45] Overwhelmed. Think "peuple".
[11:46] Qu'est-ce que c'est le peuple ? Populated.
[11:49] Overpopulated. That's it.
[11:51] Oh, nice. That's it.
[11:53] Overcrowded. Nice.
[11:53] Overcrowded. That's exactly it.
[11:55] Yeah. Anyway, so that's causing a huge
[11:58] problem. Okay.
[11:59] So, they have a solution. Did you hear the word "insolite"
[12:04] in the text? "Une solution insolite est
[12:07] trouvée". "Une solution insolite": can I
[12:12] just say that it was covered in the first episode- ... that
[12:17] word, because we talked about- I mean, we did just talk about
[12:20] this ... "fait divers" and the "fait
[12:22] insolite". "Insolite", we, uh- Oh.
[12:27] Do you remember? "Insolite"?
[12:29] Mm-hmm. Not solid, I want to say.
[12:31] No, that's ... "Insolite" is- I've got to go
[12:35] back and watch episode one. Yeah, I need to.
[12:38] And then we'll come back. Okay, "insolite" means, unusual,
[12:41] something unusual. Yeah, it was in the newspaper.
[12:43] "Insolite". It's all coming back to me now.
[12:47] Yes, knowing it was only last week.
[12:51] So, hmm, okay. Well, in language learning, you
[12:54] need it reinforced- Yes ... and I've only heard that one time.
[12:56] Exactly. So now I've heard it twice.
[12:58] Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[12:59] Okay, le gros problème, c'est que les cimetières sont
[13:03] surpeuplés. D'accord?
[13:05] Crowded, okay. Il y a des problèmes d'hygiène,
[13:09] \[les lieux sont\] insalubres. D'accord.
[13:12] Et la 2e question : combien d'os trouve-t-on, combien d'ossements
[13:18] trouve-t-on ? How many bones?
[13:21] Six million. Alors, I think more.
[13:23] Parce que tu as- ... ... voilà. Alors, tu as 6 millions de
[13:28] personnes. Yeah.
[13:29] Donc, il y a 6 millions de personnes qui sont estimées être
[13:34] dans les catacombes. Donc, ça doit représenter- How
[13:37] many bones are in the human body?
[13:39] 206- Oh ... or something like that, 200 and something.
[13:42] I have no idea. I think it's 206 or something.
[13:44] Le truc, c'est que ... Have you ever been to the
[13:48] Catacomb? Yeah, I've been.
[13:49] Okay. And you find the same bones.
[13:53] You find "la tête" of the squelette, and the main, bigger
[13:59] bones. Mm.
[14:00] I don't think you find the toe bone.
[14:04] I mean, if you looked, you could probably find a toe bone- ... a
[14:08] tarsal, a metatarsal. I'm so sorry.
[14:11] I'm so highly visual, that I've just imagined the finger bones
[14:16] and the toe bones. I'm so sorry.
[14:17] I just ... This is ...
[14:22] Yeah. Anyways, so we are estimating
[14:25] millions and millions. Yeah.
[14:26] Yeah. So you've been?
[14:30] Yes, I've been. And how was that for you?
[14:33] Very eerie feeling. We went on a bit of a private
[14:38] tour of the non-touristy bits as well- Yeah ... which obviously
[14:41] are not as well lit, and- Yeah. the quieter bits.
[14:46] So all the walls are covered with skulls.
[14:48] Pretty much, yeah. Pretty much the whole thing.
[14:50] So these people took all these bodies and were like, "Oh, yeah,
[14:53] we're going to make it artistic, and stick all the skulls on the
[14:58] walls." I don't think it was for art
[14:59] reasons. No, it was- Why would they do
[15:01] that? They needed ...
[15:02] Well, they couldn't do anything else with it, so they had to use
[15:06] ... They used a "carrière", a
[15:09] quarry, which was underground, in order to store all these
[15:14] bones that they had from different cemeteries that had
[15:17] collapsed or were overcrowded. And that's- Well, they used them
[15:21] for structural reasons as well, right?
[15:22] Yes. To prop up- Yes.
[15:23] Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[15:25] Yes. That's crazy.
[15:27] Yeah. No, but that's clever.
[15:29] And once again, just like the first episode, A tourist
[15:33] attraction, "une attraction touristique", les catacombes
[15:37] became a tourist attraction in 1809.
[15:40] Mm. Yeah.
[15:42] Immediately after. No.
[15:44] No, hundreds of years after. No, no, a few, 10 years later or
[15:48] so- Okay ... because they started- Yeah, yeah ... like
[15:52] 1770s, they had a problem. 1786, they start doing something about
[16:00] the ossuary of Paris. What's that?
[16:03] Municipal ossuary. What's that?
[16:06] That's ... Well, an ossuary- A place where
[16:08] you store bones. Place, yeah.
[16:10] I can't say it. Maybe the- Ossuary ... ossuary.
[16:12] Well, isn't that to do with birds, an ossuary?
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[16:44] Yeah. Now, I've been to les catacombes
[16:47] a few years ago. Did you enjoy it?
[16:51] I feel like you would enjoy it. You're laughing a lot about- Do
[16:55] you not like- Toe bones ... toe bones and- I think it's very
[17:00] much a nervous laugh. It's just, it started with
[17:05] catacombes, and from this minute, it just couldn't stop.
[17:09] I'm so sorry. I did.
[17:11] It's very eerie, you're right- Mm ... and very quiet- Yeah ...
[17:16] as well. There is a cold, you feel cold
[17:19] as well. I've done the short version,
[17:22] which is a 0,5km, but I heard of a special- Yeah ... that you
[17:27] could pay for, to add on to- Yeah.
[17:32] I have a question for you. How long is the complete network
[17:36] of the catacombs? Doesn't it span the whole of the
[17:40] underground of Paris? Okay, so I'm giving you choices,
[17:43] 150 kilometers- Wow ... 150 kilomètres, 300 kilometers, 300
[17:48] kilomètres, 1,000 kilomètres, 1,000 kilometers. 300?
[17:56] I'm going to go the higher end. Oh.
[17:57] Mille kilomètres ? Well, actually, no.
[17:59] I'm going 300. I'll go 300 as well.
[18:01] It is 300 kilometers. Yes.
[18:04] Trois cents kilomètres. So, I suppose you can imagine a
[18:08] lot of- Yeah ... underground. I would like to be, if I had to
[18:12] be somebody whose body was in the catacombs, I want to be very
[18:15] far away. I want to be at the very end
[18:17] that you can't- ... You know what I mean?
[18:19] I don't want to be where everyone else.
[18:22] I don't want to be in the main ...
[18:24] Because you said there's a certain mile where everybody
[18:27] walks down it. Yes, 1.5.
[18:27] I want to be in one of the corners that nobody ever visits.
[18:31] Really? Yeah.
[18:33] I'm just saying. Okay.
[18:35] We'll make a note. Make a note of that.
[18:38] All right. Okay.
[18:40] So, I've got another question for you.
[18:45] What is the French word meaning urban explorer of unauthorised
[18:51] subterranean network- Scavenger ... of ancient stone quarries,
[18:56] mines, and tunnels, such as the catacombs?
[18:58] So, you've got people that go and explore these kind of
[19:02] places. Oh, I think I know the British
[19:03] word. So, what's the English word?
[19:05] What's the English word? Spelunking, right?
[19:07] What? Spelunking.
[19:10] That is the word. Spelunking.
[19:13] Okay. I've never heard of that word,
[19:15] so- Spelunking ... okay. Is it A.
[19:19] "cataphile", B. "tunnephile", or C."ossophile"?
[19:24] That would be "tunnephile" probably, right?
[19:27] Yeah, or "cataphile". One of the two.
[19:30] So- Tunnels ... like "cataphile"- Yeah ...
[19:33] "tunnephile", or "ossophile"? These are people that just enjoy
[19:39] as a hobby exploring- It would be "tunnephile", I think ...
[19:42] "tunnephile", probably. Yeah, I'm going to go with that.
[19:43] Am I not right? It is "cataphile".
[19:46] Oh, no. So, a "cataphile" is someone
[19:49] who- What did you say? Yeah.
[19:51] The same thing. Are you sure?
[19:52] Well, I said I thought it was "cataphile" or that one.
[19:54] Yeah. "Cataphile" is a urban explorer
[19:56] that is exploring the tunnels ... yeah, who ventures into ...
[20:00] ... unauthorised places- Because that what tunnels would be.
[20:02] But are they all catacombs? Is the whole thing catacombs, or
[20:07] are some of them just tunnels- ... without bones?
[20:11] I can't answer this question. I did not do some research on
[20:15] that, so we could- Let us know in the comments.
[20:17] Yeah, let us know in the comments, because you might know
[20:20] more than I do. I'm basing myself on the facts I
[20:24] was given and that I researched as well.
[20:27] And let us know in the comments, because I'm so curious if
[20:29] there's an English word for "ossements".
[20:32] "Ossements"? Ossuary, I think.
[20:34] Yeah. Oh.
[20:35] Have we still not figured it out?
[20:36] No, we haven't figured this one out.
[20:38] But a group of bones- Yeah ... is an ossuary?
[20:43] Ossuary The sentence "Les autorités y transportent des
[20:49] millions d'ossements" translates as "the authorities transported
[20:52] millions of skeletal remains". Yeah.
[20:55] Skeletal remains, yeah. So, is it that ...
[21:01] What's the difference between "ossement" and- Well, I don't
[21:03] think it's "os", but if somebody in the comments ... knows, then
[21:06] that's nice. Does it mean a collection of
[21:09] bones? Well, I've got to now search
[21:16] "ossement". "Ossement désigne un os
[21:19] décharné, sec et desséché qui provient du cadavre d'un être
[21:23] humain ou d'un animal." An ossement is not a compilation
[21:26] of ossement. What does "ossement" mean?
[21:28] An "ossement" is an "os". Oh, what?
[21:31] Yeah. Then were we just saying it
[21:33] wrong the whole time? Yes.
[21:36] "Ossement", so what's- C'est un os.
[21:39] It's an os. Un ossement, c'est pas une
[21:43] compilation d'os. C'est, un ossement, c'est un os.
[21:49] Donc on a deux façons de dire "bone".
[21:53] On a "os". "Os".
[21:55] And "ossement". Anyways, yeah.
[21:58] Why not just say bone? Yeah.
[21:59] Yeah, "un os". Mais parce que, oui, on aurait
[22:02] pu dire des millions d'os. Mais peut-être que os- Isn't it
[22:05] des millions d'os? Des millions d'os.
[22:07] It's plural, no? Oui.
[22:09] So, des os, un os. Oh, sorry.
[22:12] Des os. Un os.
[22:14] Million d'os. Des million d'os.
[22:16] That's weird. It sounds very bizarre actually
[22:19] thinking about it. Yeah.
[22:21] Sounds very bizarre. Anyway.
[22:23] Did you, during the reading, manage to get which
[22:27] personalities, which famous people are buried in the
[22:31] catacombs? No, you just said four people.
[22:31] Yeah, it was the four people at the end.
[22:33] Okay. So, I read the last sentence:
[22:35] "On estime que les restes de plus de 6 millions de personnes
[22:40] y sont conservés, dont ceux de personnalités telles que Charles
[22:47] Perrault, Robespierre, Danton, mais aussi François Rabelais".
[22:53] So, who are these ... Who's Charles Perrault?
[22:57] No idea. You don't know who Charles
[23:00] Perrault is? Do you know who he is?
[23:01] Is he a revolutionary? No.
[23:03] Charles Perrault- Wait, can you give us a clue?
[23:05] Charles Perrault- Who was- A writer Oui, c'est un écrivain.
[23:09] Ah. Absolutely.
[23:10] C'est un écrivain. Il a écrit des contes.
[23:15] Vous savez ce que c'est, des contes?
[23:18] Par exemple, en français, Les contes de la mère l'Oye.
[23:24] Oh, like laws? No.
[23:28] L'Oye is the goose. Oh.
[23:32] Par exemple, Cendrillon. What is this?
[23:36] Fairy tales? C'est, oui.
[23:38] Ah. C'est ça.
[23:39] Charles Perrault a écrit, par exemple, Cendrillon.
[23:41] Qu'est-ce que c'est Cendrillon en anglais?
[23:43] C'est Cinderella. Oh.
[23:48] Ah. Cinderella.
[23:48] I was going to guess that, but I didn't want to look a fool.
[23:50] Il a écrit. He wrote Cinderella.
[23:52] Oui. The original- The original ...
[23:55] story. Some of these popular stories-
[23:57] Cinderella ... are Cinderella. He's a French guy.
[23:59] Et aussi- He's a French guy. Sorry.
[24:01] Et aussi, La Belle au bois dormant.
[24:04] Qu'est-ce que c'est ça ? La Belle au bois dormant.
[24:09] The beauty of ... Well, Beauty and the Beast?
[24:11] Non. I don't know.
[24:12] C'est pas La Belle et la Bête. La Belle au bois ?
[24:14] La Belle au bois dormant. Oh, oh, oh, so Sleeping-
[24:18] Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty.
[24:19] Bravo. Yeah.
[24:20] Yeah. Yeah.
[24:20] Sleeping Beauty. Dormant.
[24:22] Yeah, yeah, yeah. La Belle au bois dormant.
[24:25] What was his name? Voilà.
[24:26] Charles Perrault. Charles Perrault.
[24:28] Charles Perrault. Charles Perrault, he passed away
[24:32] in 1703, so he's an early, very early writer from the 17th
[24:38] century. So, they really went back then
[24:40] and got the old bones as well, not just the ones around.
[24:43] Well, no, that's because- ... exactly, it's probably because
[24:46] he was in one of the cemeteries that- Yeah ... collapsed, and
[24:50] they had to put all of that. Danton and Robespierre were
[24:56] politicians during the Révolution française, the French
[25:00] Revolution. Danton has only one name?
[25:02] Like Beyoncé. Like Beyoncé?
[25:04] Yeah. Danton.
[25:06] Robespierre, you want to know what Danton's first name was?
[25:10] I know, I'm just curious why he's got no first name.
[25:12] Because we call them the same way as we called me, Polidoro,
[25:15] for example. Okay.
[25:18] Georges Danton. Okay.
[25:20] He has a first name. He does have a first name.
[25:22] Yes. Oh, he was not the most
[25:25] attractive of men. Really?
[25:27] I'm just showing. Oh.
[25:29] Well. Picture will be available on the
[25:32] screen for that one. Look, everyone has their own
[25:36] beauty in their own way. Yeah, let's not be rude.
[25:39] And let's just talk about- Sorry guys ... the things that he did
[25:41] for the French people. Just- Was he a good guy?
[25:43] Did he- So, well, yes and no. Actually, there were so many
[25:49] people involved during the French Revolution, that when one
[25:55] political party decided to guillotine, to have the heads
[26:04] fall, decapitated. I don't know what's the word.
[26:08] Decapitated. That would've been the opposite
[26:10] parties, yeah. And then suddenly, during the
[26:14] French Revolution, the side flipped.
[26:18] Yeah. And so the people that were once
[26:22] condemned to be decapitated were the people decapitating- Yeah
[26:27] ... the opposite party. I- And I think Danton was one of
[26:30] them. I don't know what- He got
[26:32] decapitated? Yeah, and Robespierre as well.
[26:34] What year did he die? He got beheaded.
[26:36] He died on the 5th of April 1794.
[26:43] And as for Robespierre- Oh, but that's too late to go into the
[26:48] catacombs, isn't it? No, absolutely not, because this
[26:52] carried on filling up. Oh, that's why, because they
[26:55] didn't like him. What?
[26:56] They threw him in the catacombs. Yeah, in the fosse.
[26:58] So when did they stop putting bones down there?
[27:01] Do we know that? No, I don't have this.
[27:03] Yeah, stop asking me questions I can't answer.
[27:05] I was going to be like, "Can we do an episode on the French
[27:08] Revolution?" because I have no idea what
[27:10] happened then. Yeah.
[27:11] Okay. We can do that.
[27:12] I think people think about it as one revolution, but we're
[27:15] actually on the Fifth French Republic now, so it's like
[27:19] revolution- Wow ... another revolution, monarchy again,
[27:21] revolution again. I just remember something like
[27:23] "Let Them Eat Cake"- Yeah ... by Marie Antoinette.
[27:25] Yeah. And that's all I know about the
[27:26] French Revolution. I think that's the first one.
[27:28] Ah. 1789. Whoa.
[27:32] That would be impressive if that's accurate. 1789.
[27:35] Let us know in the comments. We'll edit you out if that's
[27:38] wrong. We'll- We'll edit it right ...
[27:40] dub you over with the right one. We'll deep fake me doing it
[27:42] right. Anyway, so, to finish, I'm going
[27:49] to read this- Oh, did we find out who François something was?
[27:54] François Rabelais. François Rabelais is- I've heard
[27:59] that name ... a physician, scholar, diplomat, and Catholic
[28:02] priest. And later on became known for
[28:09] his satirical text, for his depiction of the grotesque, and
[28:15] for his larger than life characters.
[28:18] So- We did everything, didn't we?
[28:20] ... I think maybe Ben, our producer,
[28:23] knows Rabelais. Do you know Rabelais?
[28:26] No. Okay, he doesn't.
[28:28] Look it up. I thought you might.
[28:31] I thought you might know Rabelais.
[28:32] I'm not familiar with Rabelais' work.
[28:34] Who was he? I know that he is studied at
[28:36] school, quite a lot. I'm pretty certain I have
[28:41] studied him, but because I don't retain any information, I
[28:45] unfortunately don't know. Yes, what was your question?
[28:50] Oh, I don't know. I don't get what he's saying.
[28:52] "Par exemple, Gargantua et Pantagruel" What's that?
[28:58] Is a series of four or five books, including "Pantagruel: La
[29:02] vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua", usually called
[29:07] "Gargantua". "Gargantua and Pantagruel"- I've
[29:10] not heard of this. Have you heard of this?
[29:11] ... the third book, the fourth book.
[29:13] The name rings a bell. Okay, we are talking about an
[29:18] author here born in 16-- Not even that.
[29:23] In the 15th century- Wow ... he was born.
[29:27] Oh, wow. They don't know.
[29:28] They think he was born between 1483- When did he die?
[29:31] ... and 1494. He died, well, fairly old
[29:35] considering the epoch. Mid 1500s.
[29:39] Mid 1553. So he was in the ground for
[29:44] many, many years. Yes.
[29:46] Yeah. Like 200 years, right?
[29:48] Yeah. And then they dragged him out
[29:49] and put him in the catacombs. But they didn't drag him out.
[29:52] I think it was- Oh, that was one of the guys who fell in.
[29:54] Yeah, he fell in. Interesting.
[30:00] Okay. So, Satie, you've never visited
[30:03] Les Catacombes. I have, I think, when I was
[30:05] younger, but I don't remember it.
[30:07] I don't think you have. Oh.
[30:08] There must be an age limit. Oh, really?
[30:12] Yeah, I reckon. I saw kids.
[30:14] Did you? Yeah.
[30:15] Why would you take kids in the catacomb?
[30:18] Why would you take kids into the catacombs?
[30:21] I did not take any kids into the catacomb.
[30:25] I was there for work. Do you feel like going?
[30:28] I'm going to go back to Paris soon.
[30:29] I think I will go and visit- Okay ... the catacombs.
[30:32] Yes. Okay.
[30:33] All right. So what about you guys?
[30:37] I'm looking at the camera now, and if you're listening to us,
[30:40] would you fancy a visit to Les Catacombs de Paris?
[30:44] Leave us a comment. What, are we all going together?
[30:48] Well, we can. Whenever you are in Paris.
[30:52] Whoever leaves the most interesting comment, we will
[30:54] take on an all-expenses paid trip- Yes ... to the catacombs.
[31:00] Yeah. Maybe we'll meet at the catacomb
[31:02] the next time we come to Paris. Mm.
[31:04] Which we did in March, and we invited people to come and visit
[31:09] us. Nobody came.
[31:12] Oh, what? There was a misunderstanding.
[31:15] What was the misunderstanding? That I don't think they knew
[31:19] where to meet us, and people said they wanted to come and see
[31:23] me, and they didn't really. Oh, right.
[31:25] So, I thought I was more famous than I am really.
[31:29] I'm not. Yeah.
[31:34] Anyway, that's very funny. I'm going to read it one last
[31:38] time, and the translation is available for you on the support
[31:44] guide that is available with this podcast, okay?
[31:48] And you can watch this podcast on YouTube as well, and listen
[31:54] to it on Spotify, Apple, or whatever.
[31:56] Yeah. All platforms.
[31:58] Wherever podcasts are available. And if you like this kind of
[32:02] podcast, please let us know, and we'll do more.
[32:05] So here we go. "Les Catacombs de Paris, La
[32:08] ville sous la ville. A la fin du XVIIIe siècle, Paris
[32:12] a un gros problème. Les cimetières sont trop pleins,
[32:15] et cela commence à poser de gros soucis d'hygiène pour les
[32:19] habitants de la ville. Une solution insolite est
[32:23] trouvée : utiliser d'anciennes carrières souterraines situées
[32:27] dans le 14e arrondissement. Entre 1786 et 1788, les
[32:34] autorités y transportent des millions d'ossements.
[32:39] On estime que les restes de plus de six millions de personnes y
[32:44] sont conservés, dont ceux de personnalités telles que Charles
[32:49] Perrault, Robespierre et Danton, mais aussi François Rabelais."
[32:55] How was that? Yeah.
[32:57] It's a lot easier to understand. Yeah, way more- Funny- ... the
[33:00] second time ... because we talked mainly in English.
[33:03] Yeah. Which is very funny.
[33:06] Yeah. But because we covered the
[33:08] context a bit more, and a few words here and there, it became
[33:13] clearer. Yeah.
[33:14] Yeah? It's good, isn't it?
[33:16] I like this format a lot, and if it becomes popular, we shall do
[33:22] more. Any other questions before we
[33:26] go? No, I want to see a map of it
[33:31] now, because you said it started in the 14e arrondissement.
[33:35] Yeah, that's what- But if it's 300 kilometers long- ...
[33:40] Where does it go? That's a very good point.
[33:45] And especially you see only 1.5 kilometer of it.
[33:49] I think it could be that it's like a snail underneath, in the
[33:54] ground. Or maybe it's many layers.
[33:56] Many layers. I don't know.
[33:58] It is quite tight. Yeah.
[34:02] When you go to the catacombs, you mustn't be claustrophobic-
[34:05] Yeah ... because it can get very And being quite a tall person
[34:09] was- You can see Liam here in this angle, but Liam is about
[34:15] three meters high. The world's tallest man.
[34:18] Next to me, all the pictures we've taken of Liam and I next
[34:23] to each other, I look like I'm a meter high, and he looks like
[34:28] three meters. But it's true.
[34:29] It's true. All these official pictures that
[34:34] we've taken in the past, it's just I need a little stool next
[34:38] time I have a picture taken with Liam.
[34:41] And yes, the catacomb is quite tight.
[34:44] Mm-hmm. It's a tunnel, which is wide
[34:46] enough. Just the going down the stairs,
[34:49] you've got to be prepared to go down quite a lot of stairs in a
[34:55] tight space. God, they should have lifts
[34:59] installed. Do they?
[35:00] I don't know. I don't know.
[35:02] We can find out. But find out, I'm sure they have
[35:05] an official website, which I can tell you now, or it will be
[35:11] written on the support guide if you want.
[35:19] Catacombes. Catacombes.
[35:21] Catacombes. So they have an official
[35:25] website, catacombes.paris.fr/en. There you go.
[35:34] So everything is ... Wow, 31 euros.
[35:38] That seems reasonable. I think when I went it was 80.
[35:43] 80? 80, because it was one of the
[35:45] private tours. Ah, okay.
[35:48] But I think, yeah, admission in itself is about 30.
[35:49] Blimey, that is very expensive. Okay.
[35:52] So that's it for me. Hope you enjoyed that.
[35:57] Au revoir, à bientôt, et puis- Bisous ... bisous.
[36:00] Should we do one bisous each? Okay.
[36:03] Do you want to do that again? That's it for me.
[36:06] Au revoir, à bientôt, bisous. Bisous.

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