Derek and I were finally done with our 20 minute sweaty tube ride out from the central city of Paris. Derek was carrying loads of bags and things and I had made sure to put on the ugliest clothes I had brought in my small backpack to Paris. I was 18 years old, doing my first solo trip. I was ready for adrenaline and crazy things m. And this was for sure, going to be one of them. We were going to go down in to the illegal parts of the Paris Catacombs and this together with a guy I barely knew. I had just spoken to Derek on the phone once before meeting him today. Derek had asked me if I was tall, big in size, had claustrophobia, or was scared of hights. He told me that those things would make it really difficult to be underground. I was stupid and said no to all those things. In fact I am really scared of hights. Derek took me to a manhole where we were supposed to climb down to reach the under ground. However there was a policeman standing on top, ready to seal that entrance “and in that way also locking people inside?” is what I thought to myself. I couldn’t say no now. I was honest with Derek, told him how I felt about climbing down a manhole in middle of the street with cars and pedistrians as an audience, I mean after all, whatever we were supposed to do was illegal. We went to a a small hole in the ground, that was the only entrence but manholes according to Derek. He put on fishing pants, took out his speaker and a torch. I decided to call my mom and tell her to call the police unless I didn’t call back within 12 hours. After that we started our 8 hour long journey in the Paris Catacombs. We crawled for a good 15 minutes in mud and water. I was in flip flops and a t-shirt not exactly prepared for what we were doing. Once we could stand up Derek went through a few rules with me. Just say “bonjour” to other people, no more conversations We might get smoke bombed. The police could come. The Paris catacombs are huge but in the southern parts, there are a couple of special rooms, the cinema (where they used to show movies), the beach, the flower room and many more. After walking for probably half an hour we got to all of them and saw some candles burning - people had been in the catacombs recently. We decided to go up north. We walked through water up to our hips with only a small flashlight showing us the way. The graffiti and the small objects to watch in the walls made the 2 hour walk feel like 20 minutes. And suddenly we were there. I was walking on top of real human bones. They were everywhere. I could feel a lump growing in my throat, but Derek wanted to move on. He wanted to show me the German bunker. The only story Derek had told me about his times under ground was when he got lost in the German bunker and had walked around in circles for hours. He told me he had learnt it now though. We went further and further. As we reach the end of the bunker, smoke appears. Someone smoked bombed us and I literally cannot see Derek who stands 1 metre away. I somehow grab his backpack and we start running out. After that I was a bit overwhelmed, ready to go back home, we had after all been down there for 6 hours. But we had 2 hours to go. We were starting to walk to the closest exit. It wasn’t supposed to be too far away. We walked for 20 minutes and then I realised something was wrong. Derek started sweating from his forehead, said it was warm, walked back and forth, he was panicking and we were lost. Derek was ready to walk all the way back, 6 hours. I sat him down, took his phone and tried reading the map. All the street names are written in the catacomb walls and eventually I found it! I knew how to get out. I told Derek to hold my backpack and I walked first. Suddenly we just got to a dead end and I was sure we would have to walk all the way back anyways. Derek showed me that it was just planks that people put up so that the police won’t find the entrance to the Catacombs. We pushed out the planks and finally got to the exit. It was a manhole. I had told him I wouldn’t do that but I had no choice. We climbed about 20 metres, I couldn’t see anything down, it felt like a 100 metres down. My knees just locked themselves. I couldn’t move. Derek pulled me up and as I come up, someone walks and the pavement right next to the manhole and a car is literally just driving past. We shut the manhole and finally we are out! We survived!