> Also, aren’t the bits we can visit physically separated from the broader quarry network due to cave-ins?
The bits that can be visited legally is the museum, and it's isolated with man-made walls, not accidental cave-ins. It's very much on purpose. There have been several occurences of people digging holes from the illegal part to the museum for fun (like doing parties), swiftly fixed by the IGC. Speaking of the IGC, their sole purpose is to avoid said cave-ins.
And to expand a bit about the pedantic distinction: there are multiple ossuaries in the largest network of quarries: the official one, and two others only accessible illegally. There's one under the Montparnasse cemetery (the one visible in most catacumbs youtube videos), and another one near porte d'orléans.
> At least one quarry, the Montsouris reservoir, and I think parts of the old sewers as well. Those are already quite cool and interesting.
Yup! Those are definitely worth a visit. And fun fact, there are two "layers" to the montsouris reservoir: the top one with the water, that can be visited, and the bottom ones, which are the foundations of said water "tank". It's a forest of large pillars with a few artifacts. AFAIK those are not visitable legally, but were illegally due to a crawlspace between the illegal part of the quarries and it. It was quite fun :)
> There are near misses regularly
Indeed. Most of the times where the fire brigade is called is when there are accidents in the accesses to the quarries: opening manholes, falling off ladders, etc. And whenever such an accident occurs, the authorities closes off the access to avoid further accidents. Well, unless it's a safe one to avoid more dangerous ones to be opened by people. I've used several such accesses that where ... not smart to use, to say the least :)
(oh and pass the bonjour to your mate from someone I hope he'll never have to rescue!)
> teenagers who got lost for 3 days a couple of years ago.
this is very rare; usually from a combination of drug use and sheer bad luck. given how many people there are dwelling during the weekend, it's rare for noone to stuble on you when lost.
The bits that can be visited legally is the museum, and it's isolated with man-made walls, not accidental cave-ins. It's very much on purpose. There have been several occurences of people digging holes from the illegal part to the museum for fun (like doing parties), swiftly fixed by the IGC. Speaking of the IGC, their sole purpose is to avoid said cave-ins.
And to expand a bit about the pedantic distinction: there are multiple ossuaries in the largest network of quarries: the official one, and two others only accessible illegally. There's one under the Montparnasse cemetery (the one visible in most catacumbs youtube videos), and another one near porte d'orléans.
> At least one quarry, the Montsouris reservoir, and I think parts of the old sewers as well. Those are already quite cool and interesting.
Yup! Those are definitely worth a visit. And fun fact, there are two "layers" to the montsouris reservoir: the top one with the water, that can be visited, and the bottom ones, which are the foundations of said water "tank". It's a forest of large pillars with a few artifacts. AFAIK those are not visitable legally, but were illegally due to a crawlspace between the illegal part of the quarries and it. It was quite fun :)
> There are near misses regularly
Indeed. Most of the times where the fire brigade is called is when there are accidents in the accesses to the quarries: opening manholes, falling off ladders, etc. And whenever such an accident occurs, the authorities closes off the access to avoid further accidents. Well, unless it's a safe one to avoid more dangerous ones to be opened by people. I've used several such accesses that where ... not smart to use, to say the least :)
(oh and pass the bonjour to your mate from someone I hope he'll never have to rescue!)
> teenagers who got lost for 3 days a couple of years ago.
this is very rare; usually from a combination of drug use and sheer bad luck. given how many people there are dwelling during the weekend, it's rare for noone to stuble on you when lost.