Secret Underground Lair in Paris

"Police in Paris discovered a cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement... A tunnel held a desk and a closed-circuit TV camera set to automatically record images of anyone passing. The tunnel opened into a vast 400 sq metre cave some 18m underground, "like an underground amphitheatre, with terraces cut into the rock and chairs"...a full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment and a wide variety of films. A smaller cave next door had been turned into an informal restaurant and bar. "There were bottles of whisky and other spirits behind a bar, tables and chairs, a pressure-cooker for making couscous," the spokesman said. "The whole thing ran off a professionally installed electricity system and there were at least three phone lines."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/08/filmnews.france?fb=optOut

This article dates back to 2004; I recall mentioning it in my old LJ blog. How did the police deduct that the pressure cooker was used specifically for making couscous? Maybe the occupants had omitted to wash the dishes. Personally I find couscous to be bland and ultra-boring; a lair like this surely deserves finer cuisine. But it seems an intriguing place, and its occupants even more interesting - which is one of the reasons the idea has been incorporated into my fiction.

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