In message , Annabel Smyth
writes
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 at 05:01:58, Alistair McIndoe
wrote:

And then you've got the double-decker trains that go under bits of Paris.
RTAP or RER or whatever. Why does most of the Paris metro smell like a
sewer? London's tubes don't whiff like that. I know Paris is marginally
closer to the equator (and marginally further away from the Arctic), but is
a climate difference to blame? Maybe a diet of snails, horsemeat and frogs'
legs leads to more frequent methane emissions.


It's certainly a distinctive smell!
Well they do (or did at any rate) perfume the tunnels. I always felt
that the perfume was probably an even worse smell than whatever it was
they were trying to camouflage.

When I lived there, back in the
1970s, the central car on each train was first-class - I'm not sure when
that was abolished,
It was still the case on my first visit (in 1984) but had vanished by
the time I returned in 1990.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk