Kind of funny to come back for a week off and get back to work and then immediately have a day off But hey Independence Day fell on the 4th of July this year.

So what are you gonna do?

Your Daily Lex So I talked on this very podcast about how Liam wanted to go to the Paris sewer museum Nobody sane wanted to do that And eventually I wrote in to judge John Hodgman And his podcast on which he ruled that indeed we should go to the sewer museum We’ve given the kids the option to research stuff.

They wanted to do Liam did exactly that He found the Paris here museum.

We should go it would be memorable We did so much walking in Paris like something like 55 miles that day Sorry, I’m sure 50 miles a day would be a whole lot of walking.

We did about 55 miles a week Across the week while we were there 20-30,000 steps every day and it was uh, it was intense.

It was a lot.

And so the day that we went to The sewer museum we had also that morning been in Versailles and the Versailles trip was interesting First I did think there was some inherent comedy and going both to the palaces of Versailles Or the palace of Versailles and the sewers of Paris on the same day.

I thought that was there’s something beautiful about that it was the whole Marie Antoinette journey, maybe but We had a private tour for Versailles including door-to-door service So the guy’s gonna pick you up at your hotel and then take it every side take you home again The whole ride he is coughing his head off.

I guess he’s driving us there.

He’s got great English He’s never lived in a English-speaking country because I asked because of how good his English was used really fancy words I told him he had a bit of vocabulary and some of my kids But he’s coughing the entire time and he explains.

Well, I have allergies I I was in an air-conditioned car with the air conditioning really low and I got this cough so Lauren and I are like nervously texting each other like is that even a thing?

But anyway, we get to Versailles There’s a bathroom break He and I are waiting for the others to be ready and I start talking to him in French and say, you know We’re a little bit nervous.

Do you have kovat?

And he’s like, oh, I don’t think I’ve covered Michael did you test or anything?

And he’s like no But I had this allergy thing because of the cold car and I was like, okay, like what are we gonna do?

We’re there.

We’ve taken the car ride.

We didn’t have masks.

We had them in the hotel, but we do not have them that car and That’s what it was.

Okay, it turns out we did not get covered by the way I did get weirdly sick in Paris not with a cold or anything like that But there was a couple days where I had absolutely no appetite, you know, we prepaid for this dinner once we were at Disney Buffet dinner where I literally ate nothing zero things.

I had a Coke zero knows it.

That’s why I really had zero Thanks.

See what I do there.

Anyway, so we’re in Versailles.

It’s great beautiful really crowded and Insanely hot got the whole time in Paris until we got to Disneyland.

It was so freaking hot Unbearably hot.

But anyway, we get home have a lunch walk to the sewer museum Everybody’s feet are already tired fine It’s nice and cool as you go down to the sewer because the Paris sewer museum is a museum that they have set up in The sewer like you’re in the sewer.

We knew we were going to the sewer, which is why I didn’t want to go initially But I was convinced by the judge Who is not a judge to do it and we’re there and the plane is wrong and Ani and Sierra object vociferously to this plan They cannot believe we’re gonna be doing it.

They don’t want to be doing it and they’re mad It’s meant to be a French language guided tour, but they have a link to English versions of all stops and you can go on your own instead, which is what we did and two seconds in We’re laughing hilariously.

We’re laughing our heads off for a couple different reasons one the ridiculousness of the fact that we’re in the sewer to You know as I’m reading the translation some of this stuff isn’t saying because it’s basically about how sewage gets processed and goes through the sewer And they keep using euphemisms for poop and I keep replacing those euphemisms with shit, which is killing it with my kids They thought that was really funny that every time it said waste or whatever that I would say shit They thought that was you know, that was good humor as do I barely?

But you you’re you know on Mesh flooring.

I can’t even like you’re on you’re staying on grates basically walkways and paths that are above the sewer which you can hear see and smell and However bad you think it smells it smelled worse And it didn’t really poop.

It smelled like sewage, but it didn’t smell like sewage.

It smelled like French sewage.

No, it smelled like It smelled horrible.

It smelled like rotten sewage like take sewage and let it rot I don’t know why I guess because it’s been there since the 1900s, but You know, you’re looking down from the catwalk and you’re seeing like actual Parisian feces float down and you’re breathing it and smelling it and you’re reading these descriptions and We’re laughing our heads off and at some point Lauren and the older two kids both nope out like they’re just done Lauren claims that laughing meant she breathed in through her nose too deeply and then she thought she was gonna throw up and wanted to Find a place to go throw up and I was like literally anywhere would have been a fine place to throw up here in the Sewer you just lean right over the railing and puke Lauren did not puke but she and the older two stopped and Lee when I went through all 30 something Points on the tour which took you know, 40 minutes total Some truly hilarious things to me Liam Because we we saw the the ball dam where like a giant ball sits in a giant pipe That’s just one not micron, but one very small unit of measurement bigger than said ball So that the water can flow through the slim tiny little opening But the solids all get stopped or as I was saying that or the shit But talking about a ball dam helping to stop shit had me and Liam basically breathless with laughter Liam for his part loved it and loved it to the point where he was also like I’m doing a visual here And I’m so I’m doing it for myself so I can try to think how to put this into words But you know who’s doing that gesture where you kind of swing your your arms at your size You bring them in like you’re trying to waft more air up to your nose and he would breathe in deeply through his nose And say I like the way it smells.

I have no idea why he was in that mindset He definitely did not like the way it smells but even in his memory He liked the way it smells and he was just breathing it in and happy to be there So I’m glad we did it the judge was right the Gift shop was closed and they told us we could come back the next day and it would be open and it was closed the Next day too, and we thought out of our way to go back So we have the experience we have the photos, but we don’t have the t-shirt Lex