Old Sac Seminar

Well this is the final blog for the Transforming Youth Through Travel Scholarship so before I get to the tour we took I would just like to thank TTYT for this incredible opportunity and say that it really has been an enlightening experience. I have learned so much more about Paris and its culture then I thought I could know and I am truly excited to see where this goes. I know that everything I have learned over the last few months is going to help me outside of this scholarship so I am extremely appreciative.

Now on to the good stuff. We recently took a walking to of underground Old Sacramento to give us a little taste of what these tours will be like in Paris. I found it quite fascinating to learn about. Did you know that Old Sac was not always underground. It was originally normal buildings that, after large amounts flooding a very large portion of the city was underwater. How did the city get lifted? Good question. Based on what I learned from the tour the city was manually lifted. THAT’S RIGHT! Men went underground and lifted an entire city with their own hard work and some very effective jacks that lifted portions of the city slowly and carefully. This was a very effective process however, they did lose some cities and some lives in the process.

This is an image of one of the business from the 1800s that are now underground. Judging by the image you can probably guess that this businessman was a doctor. Our tour guide told us that based on the limited supply and technology back then this form of surgery was not the effective or sanitary. She said she doubted he even washed his hands between each surgery. Can you say ew?!

Now this image is of a shoe shiner’s business, but back in those days they were also known as “boot blacks.” These types of businessmen did not really make much money but I consider it a humble way of living and an honest profession.

I think that’s it for me. BLOG OUT!

Nyeri Mallory