la_rainette | (no subject) (Reply)

The Paris métro has a very distinctive smell. It's not a very nice smell and many people wrinkle their noses at it, but it still brings tears to my eyes and a big smile to my face every single time. I love it instinctively and irrationally, see, because it's not just a common subway smell of garbage and dirt and smelly armpits (sorry), it's the métro's very breath. It spells PARIS in my brain in big flashing electric letters. It's not a common smell -- the Toronto Rocket smells entirely unlike the Paris metro, and the same applies to the NYC underground (which smells like red white hot hotness of doom).

I had assumed it just ... belonged to the Paris métro, but then last March I took the subway in DC with

selkie and

olliefree, and the DC subway smells exactly like the Paris metro! So I turned to

selkie and expressed my surprise.

selkie nodded wisely and said, "oh, you mean the smell of fried rodents? Yeah, sometimes the rats hit the third rail and there you go. BBQ rats! Nasty, isn't it?"

So yeah. Sadly enough, among the many smells that are dear to my heart (and include the smell of newborn baby and freshly baked croissants), there is "electrified rodent".

I wonder what that says about me.

(This rat-related post is brought to you curtesy of Sam's Adventures With A Rat, which reminded me of my own rat adventures...)