Day 2 in Paris - A Hole in the Wall and a Noisy Alley
Today was my first weekday in the city. Unfortunately, there are no Crossfit gyms here in Paris. Seems like a business opportunity to me. There are about 30 gyms in downtown Paris, 22 of which are one chain.
The first gym I found was actually a combination gay sauna, bar, and weight room. All in one. Not quite what I was looking for. On to the local mega corporate chain Club Med – owned by…Club Med. Lots of neon, a lot of space, a ton of machines and almost no free weights in site. And it was also $36/day! Next, I went looking for the local Univers Gym. I never did find it. But while I was looking for that gym, I found this building facing a back alley. It looked like something from the future – possibly a set for Gattaca or Minority Report:
And then right across the street was an entry way that took me from the future all the way back to the past:
Inside a massive park was this man sitting with his feathered friends:
After wandering in the park here for a bit, I headed back to the other side of town to try to find Body Gym.
On the way, I passed through the Place de Bastille, a very large roundabout with this in the center:
It was ever more impressive zoomed in:
Eventually I found the gym. I almost didn’t go in. The front entrance was all graffitied (graffited?) over. But once inside, the owners were friendly, the gym had real people working out hard, and they had free weights, a somewhat old change room, and the whole place looked like it needed to be…closed….or renovated. Perfect! And the price was right too. Managed 10 sets of “Cindy” (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats) in 20 minutes. That was about all I could do today between my minor jetlag and my bum cramps from the flights over.
Once the workout was over, I wandered home feeling like I was going to be sick. I’m sure that was the workout and not the jetlag which is gone by now.
As night fell, the neighbourhood seemed to get LOUDER as people came home from work. This is the view out of the window. It’s pretty funny to watch. It eventually settles down though by bedtime.