I had an epiphany last night as I was walking home from le class de cycling. I have done spinning before in the states numerous times, however this was a very different experience. Firstly, you had to call beforehand and sign up for a bike where they give you a number - the number of the bike you will be riding for the class. The class was absolutely full! This was the first shock, because all the classes I have done in New York are never full. We are lucky if it is half full. Everyone arrived a little beforehand to prepare their bikes and warm up, while the instructor got the music and her mic prepared. Side note: The instructor was at least 5-6 month pregnant!!! and pushing it harder than most in the class! Another thing I noticed before the class started was that there was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. I thought it was just for decoration, until the class begun and as the teacher turned the lights down low, the disco ball began turning and emiting reflections. WOW! I felt like I was in a club! It was incredible, the music blaring, a light show - what more could you ask for - I am not being sarcastic - I really did enjoy it! There was one other thing that made the experience even more motivating - throughout the 60 min class, there was many moments during intense cycling intervals that various men would yell "ALLEZ-UP" or "ALLLLLEEEEEZZZZZ!!!!". In New York, it was only the instructor who was trying to motivate the students, not the opposite. I really enjoyed this exchange. The class was great. I look forward to doing it again and also trying this one called Aqua Cycling - where you do spinning in water. It is a little of a trek as they don't have it at the club I usually go to, but next weekend I'm in town I will for sure try it out!
This morning, I chose to take another route to the gym. Rather than the usual route which takes me 15-20 minutes, I thought why not try another route, maybe it is faster, I thought. Was I wrong. Being used to the grid-system of New York, Paris is COMPLETELY different. I discovered this blog last week when I was bored at work of this woman named Maggie Kim who is a singer and writer and she was from New York but now lives in Paris - she moved here for the man she fell in love with. Anyways, she writes about all these things that she notices living here and about her life. One of her entries was about the difference between how New York and Paris are in terms of how they are set up:
Paris, with its arrondissements, is built like a snail’s shell—or that’s what I read somewhere once. The center of the shell is the 1st (where I live) and then circles around from there until you get to the 20th. Yeah, it makes no sense for people who come from gridded cities, like New York and even Philly. So I have this theory that this town has a million wormholes that you step through, just by making a left turn instead of a right, or vice versa. There are routes I know to certain places like the back of my hand. Now, logic would make it seem that if you take the street that’s parallel to the one you’re on, you’ll still wind up at your destination at approximately the same time.
This was exactly how I felt this morning. My normal route consists of walking down Rue Nôtre-Dame-de-Lorette which become Rue du Faubourgh Montmartre, then turning left on Rue Bergère, followed by turning right on Rue du Faubourgh Poissonière. It feels like I'm walking down, going straight and then walking back up - feels totally backwards, like I'm walking in circles. Today, my route made more sense to my grid-like mentality, but ended up taking me 20-25 minutes. France is so twisted...literally!
Happy Canada Day! I will be sporting the red and white in spirit of beautiful country. O Canada!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment