[Cardinal Awol]

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hey we are both beginners but we would be happy to explore with you for the first time. We don't know where to go but we do speak French. What do you think?

Well, this is what I did, and what I think you should do:

1) Do some other underground stuff like drains or mines, which are not such a big secret. Take pictures.
2) Join an underground forum and post your pictures/reports. I have been a member of some UK drain forums for a while.
3) Use Google to find a map of the catacombs and get it printed up big. If you can't find one, look harder.
4) Once you have been a member of the forum for a long time and people know they can trust you, PM someone knowledgeable and say you have a map, but need a good entrance point for the catacombs.
5) Join a French catacombs forum (CKZone) to find some friends for company, or just go alone.

I didn't just come here with no proof of experience, no map, and no access info. I had all that. I could have gone alone. I was just looking for someone to hang out with. People need to feel like they can trust you before they tell you how to get in. I went in the catacombs again the other day and came across some morphine addicts who were stealing bones, and they tried to take my map. People want to make sure that no more losers like that can get in. I do sympathize with you, and I am very grateful to the guys from CKZone who took me with them. But I don't live in Paris, so I don't feel like I have any right to give away Parisian secrets to people that I don't know well. Maybe if someone else here says it is ok. But I am leaving Paris soon. Also, I am happy to take responsibility for my self and can read the map well, but I would feel a little uncomfortable taking responsibility for guiding a stranger. It would probably be better for you to go with someone who knows the catacombs better.

I need to buy a carbide lamp!



EDIT: And it doesn't really matter what language you speak. That's less important than being a trustworthy person. People don't really need to speak the same languages fluently to hang out together.