Aromas of the Paris Metro and Other Metro Facts

Metropolitan: An Ode to the Paris Metro, published July, 2023. 

Andrew Martin’s ode to the Paris metro ranges over a huge variety of topics, many of which I found quite interesting, though not all of them. Martin is somewhat obsessed with comparing the history, purpose, architecture, engineering feats, sociology, and much else about the metro to the same features of the London underground, which I found a little tedious as I tend to value the Paris metro for itself alone.

I remember the metro for the many experiences and observations I’ve made during many visits to Paris over a number of decades. It’s always been my main transportation other than walking in Paris. Like Martin, I love to think about the names of the stations, which seem sometimes so exotic. I love the conventions of the standard metro map and enjoy trying to connect the underground map with the above ground map. I appreciated Martin’s summaries of how the metro stations, ticket sellers, gate controllers (human and automated), and other mechanics of riding have changed over the years. 

One topic that Martin covered only slightly is the buskers whose music can sometimes be heard echoing through the long connecting corridors, and how they have to audition to play legally. He mentioned only slightly (if at all the stations) where there's art in the metro, like the Louvre station, or murals of relevance to the station, like Bastille. He didn't mention the occasional vendors with permitted stalls selling mainly flowers and foods, and the many vending machines. 

Some of his material recalled things I’d long forgotten. For example, he described the mechanical route maps where you pushed a button for your destination and the map lit up a series of tiny incandescent light bulbs to show you which train lines to take and where to change lines. I can't find a single photo of such a map.

One feature of the metro that stays with me is the smell, which always strikes me as I descend the stairs into the underground tunnels. I am often amused to sniff the metro aroma that wafts up from grates in the sidewalk, a combination of odors which announce that you are above the ventilation system. I’ve never really figured out what components create this recognizable smell, but I’ve never encountered it anywhere else.

Martin has a few things to say about the metro smell — he’s much more analytical than my observations.

“‘It’s the smell of Paris,’ says my Parisian friend Julian Pepinster: ‘all the packed-in people and all the good and all the bad.’ When the first generation of all-steel Metro trains were stood down in the early 1980s, one ingredient of the Metro’s mysterious smell was lost: that of the hot oil on their wooden brake blocks. In Footprints in Paris: A Few Streets, a Few Lives, Gillian Tindall describes the smell as ‘garlic, dust and tobacco’. Cigarettes were an ingredient until 1991, when smoking on Metro platforms and corridors was banned. … I once described the odour as ‘lemongrass’; it’s possible I was detecting a perfume called Eau de Madeleine, which since 1998 has been added to the wax applied to the bitumen on Metro platforms during nightly cleaning. (The wax is to make the platforms shine, and you can see your blurry reflection in them, as in turbid water.) On 20 April 2001, ABC News described this scent as ‘a floral bouquet of rose and jasmine combined with citrus top notes, giving way to strong woody accents and a hint of sweetness in the base’. It might be that people are interested in the Metro aroma because Paris in general is such an odoriferous place, with all its concentrated perfumery, traffic, and outdoor dining.” (Metropolitan p. 112-113)

“From ‘Death of a Nobody’, a short story collected in Maigret’s Christmas: ‘the Metro, which smelled of bleach and where Maigret had to put out his pipe’.” (p. 10) 

On one long stay in Paris, we lived opposite the elevated metro line on Boulevard de Grenelle in the 15th arrondissement. So I enjoyed what he said about living next to these tracks (which could be very noisy, but we got used to it). He writes;

“I once discussed this part of town with a woman in her sixties whose mother lived in a third-floor flat on boulevard de Grenelle, directly overlooking the Line 6 viaduct. She insisted that such flats are no cheaper than any others in the desirable 15th Arrondissement, and that her mother enjoyed being near the trains, but did admit that her mother might have been prejudiced, since her (the mother’s) father had been one of the first drivers on the Metro. The boulevards and Line 6 do seem to have reached an accommodation, like two grand, venerable families; once, perhaps, wary of one another, but with more and more in common as time goes by.” (p. 153)

In his “ode to the Paris Metro” Martin refers to many other documentary books about the metro, as well as songs, films, novels, and popular culture from Parisians and tourists. For example, I remember seeing the film “Last Tango In Paris” where Marlon Brando’s apartment faces the Metro line that crosses the Seine near the Eiffel Tower — the elevated line near where we lived was only one Metro stop from this location, so we knew it well. In fact, I saw this film in a theater in Paris with French subtitles for the English and no subtitles for the occasional dialog in French.

Of course I know well the novel and film “Zazie dans le Metro” (Zazie in the Metro) by author Raymond Queneau; it’s about a foul-mouth little girl who visits Paris with the goal of riding the metro, but never has a chance because it’s on strike the entire time. Obviously another favorite of Martin! 

Here’s another cultural fact that I learned:

“Serge Gainsbourg had his first hit, in 1958, with a song called ‘Le Poinçonneur des Lilas’, whose bustling chorus – suggestive of a fast Metro train – repeatedly mentions the word trou, meaning a hole.” (p. 107)

Added note: in this video, available on Youtube, there's one extremely brief and a bit blurry view of one of the lit-up maps, with the words "connection lights."  

More Metro Books

Being a fan of the metro and loving to learn about it, I’ve read several other books on the topic — 

I’ve also read Martin’s book titled Sleeper Trains, reviewed it in 2018 (link). I haven’t read any of the dozens of other fiction and nonfiction books he has written!

The Famous Metro Entrances: Photos from the Web

As I read I couldn't help wishing for images of the topics in Martin's book because the Kindle edition has no illustrations. Searching the web produces a vast selection of images covering the last 120 years since the first metro lines came into service. I’ve just selected a few of them that I particularly like, particularly the Art Nouveau designs created in the very early days by Hector Guimard. 

Metro Platforms

Martin also referred to a work by the conceptual artist Daniel Buren, a collection of 100 images of the interior of a number of metro stations photographed in 1970. If you love the metro, as I do, check this out:

Cent Stations du métro parisien

Metro Decor

A few metro stations are decorated with murals such as this one at Bastille, installed in 1989. (source)

If I don't publish this RIGHT NOW I will probably spend the day finding more images and metro stories connecting to my metro memories!

Added Note: An earlier post with my own photos: "The Paris Metro"

Review © 2023 mae sander; images as credited.