Rue Fromage & other Parisian tales

NOTE
I am unable to load images from this internet cafe computer, so will add these later

The rainy start to our tour de France, or more so, Le tour de Paris, forced us to concentrate our efforts on an in depth tour of the cafes, restaurants, and especially the boulangeries- the cake and bread shops place conveniently every couple of steps in most Paris neighborhoods.

Tough as it was, we managed to sample just about everything, and than some. As most of us were staying near the Republic area, David and I arranged to have early morning meetings, in order to explore different sections of Paris, on foot, at a fast pace, to evaluate the architecture and coffee shops, over a 2 hour period, while more intelligent folks slept in.

Being Autumn, our 7 Am starts were just on sunrise, and it was enjoyable to see Paris waking up while sipping espresso and munching on a freshly made croissant, as only the French can make them. we noticed that despite a diet heavy on cream and butter, most Parisians were thin and fit looking, and were intrigued by this until- after a couple of days of traveling the Metro- we realized that secret.

With 259 stations, on more levels than i can recall, traveling across Paris using the Metro was fast, inexpensive, as long as you are prepared to climb 3 million steps ( ok, slight exaggeration) with each line change, which are almost always required to get across town. The up and down surely kept us fit, and insured enough calories were burnt between another sampling of local cuisine. The other element of 'Thin de Paris' was surely the fact that a huge amount of people move about town on foot, bikes, and- you guessed, roller blades.

You only have to wait a short while near an entrance to the metro to see an expert display of going down the stairs while wearing skates and talking on the phone and finishing a cake.... phew... It was exciting to see, at just about every street a row of bikes for hire- city sponsored.

You purchase a card valid for up to 7 days ( or a yearly one) and can grab a bike to ride and keep for as long as needed for a fixed time based charge, and return it at any other station. Early mornings and late night a special crew comes to do repairs and maintenance, and it seems to work just fine. The amazing thing was that despite the total chaos of the traffic- cars, scooters, trucks, cycles, skates, pedestrians, it somehow flowed and moved with very little road rage- in fact, the drivers appeared very tolerant of everyone, and the people in general were very pleasant.

After a couple of days of exploring most districts of Paris, and noting once again how magnificent the place is, we decided it might be a good idea to put our skates on. The weather improved too, so we headed to the Bois de Bologne- a beautiful forest/park just on the outskirt of town. If on the map the forest looked of modest size, it turned out to be much much bigger, and after a long traverse to the mystical hippodrome ( recommanded by David and positioned somewhere at the back of beyond- or so it seemed) we arrived at what appeared to be a racecourse (like Flemington- for the Melbournian amongst us) where we put our skates on and joined local cyclists for a few fast laps. Exciting as this was, we soon got over it, and headed back to the forest where we managed to figure out the path code and proceeded to skate all over the place for about one and a half hours- incredibly beautiful among the trees on good tracks. Eventually we got to the edge of the park, and skated along a nice lake towards Paris proper, right thru the streets back into town.

Even on main roads the drivers seemed used to this and certainly did not drive close to us or made us feel we were trespassing on "their space"- and certainly, no one tooted the horn in anger, something we are not familiar with in Melbourne.

We made it back to town, and having earned a decent cake, headed to the Montmartre area for some food and a free concert on the steps of the Sacre' Cur, the magnificent church on the top of the hill, with a great view of all of Paris. we whiled the afternoon there, and after dark headed back to town in search of a particular local restaurant we were told about- and found it. It was a crazy local place- great food, totally crowded, the orders were written on the (paper) table cloth and the waiter, appearing to be serving something like 50 table simultaneously, came flying past looking at the hand written list on the table and getting our next course in great style and speed.

When it came time to pay, the bill was totaled, again, on the table cloth, at an incredible speed, and we were out in the Pris night in search of a place for desserts.

By now it was time to stop the suffering and get ready for the Friday night skate.

For those who have never experience this- the Paris Friday night skate is a weekly event with between 5000- 8000 skaters !!! doing a 30 KM tour of Paris- starting at 10 at night and concluding just after 1 AM at Montparnase metro. We arrived on time and after listening carefully to he instructions for that nights 'course du skate' ( the route changes every week) which were in French and which we understood totally ( NOT) we asked one of the crew and he told us this will be a new course which was never tried before- a climb to Montmartre and a super downhill- cobblestones and all- yeah great... For those who know Paris- Montmartre is certainly one of the more elevated spot of Paris, mmm, off we went just after 10.15 escorted by police on skates, 2 ambulances, and about 50 crew from the organization. I cannot find words to describe the incredible sight of 8 thousand skaters flying at a good pace thru the streets of Paris- the police stopped the traffic at intersections and we all came flying past, traffic and crowds at a standstill, many people cheering, and the skaters moving like a giant snake thru the many districts of Paris. Skaters were of mixed ability, and aside from the cobblestones and hills, the challenge was mainly not to get tripped by other skaters in the huge crowd.

Than we came to the big downhill...and big it was! for close to 10 minutes we just flew downhill, at close to 47 KMH, with lots of people crashing, including 2 support crews and the medical staff, and we had to dodge quite a few people and stay on course- and manage to Stop at intersections as instructed.... wow, this took some years of all of us, and the only stopping style was the good old T stop. Raph managed to slide on a plastic bottle and got a more intimate contact with the Parisian pavement, but was patched up soon by the crew, and off we went into the night.

Incredible is the only way to describe the sensation, and despite the fact that we spent 3 hours going up and down the hills, when we got to the finish everyone was feeling a great sense of exhilaration.

We arrived just after 1 Am, too late for the last metro, and so proceeded ( like many others) to the nearest pub for a post skate drink ( OK, a few) and than, in what proved to be the biggest challange of the evening- try and get a taxi back to our hotels. Everyone in Paris appeared to had the same idea just than, but we eventually managed to get a cab to our hotel, making it just on 3 AM- a long day's journey into night.

After a late start Saturday, a leisurley breakfast and a tour of the town ( and a skate shop) we arrange the transport for the St Cheron marathon the next day.


On to St Cheron

A train journey of about an hour got us to St Cheron, a pretty rural village south of Paris, where the 3 valleys race was being held. We arrived prepared this time- with safety pins- alas they were in great supply, and had a first good look at the course.


The 3 valleys race was indeed going to be an up and down event- somthing we are not quite used to in Melbourne. We also realized that the surfaces we train and use are in fact far better than what most pople are used to in Europe ( the Cesenatico race being an extreme example, but a true one nevertheless) and as we were told, this race was going thru a number of villages and we could expect a variety of road types, including cobblestones, sharp corners, and lots of climbs and long down hills. Registration and preliminary announcements over, The event started with a fast down hill roll thru town- Le Parade- with much waving a and cheering by the locals, and thasn a nice roll/ grunt uphill thru the magnificent centre of Saint Cheron to what we understood to be the location of the start line.

We were told that the group of Nordic skaters- long skates and poles, were to be sent off first, and to be followed a minute or so later by the rest of us. This seemed simple enough, but as we headed uphill it appeared a last minute change of plan took place, and unbeknown to us the race started without warning or order, and it took us a minute or two to catch on and get going.

Once at the top of the hill, the route left St Cheron in a long fast downhill and into the countryside, gaining speed and encountering deteriorating surface, but the going was steady, and the landscape magnificent. Soon we arrived at the next village and the start of some spectacular sharp turns over cobblestones, without having rge slightest clue what was around the corner.... The event controllers were shouting instructions ( i think) but the level of my French- especially attempting to comprehend garbled word at fast speed with incredible vibrations thru my skates and whole body while shitting myself somewhat ( try high speed cobblestone turn and find out for yourself) prevented me from understanding anything but the realization that survival mode was 'de rigure du jour'.

This is not to say in any way that this was not fantastic fun, just that those corners seemed to be always the start of another downhill thru some narrow village lanes- until we got out of the pretty town and into the countryside once more, and a good run out and a bit of level terrain. All of us managed to stay on our skates, with my GPS showing speeds of 45KMH plus thru the route, and the holes in the road appearing more frequent, and bigger.

I noticed that some of the locals employed another cornering technique, especially in one very steep downhill, they simply avoided the corner by flying straight into the forest for a bit of tree hugging, then back with a new shrubbery on top of the skin suits- i hope the bushes were softer than they appeared.

The uphills were less difficult than i suspected, although while coming up the valley and looking up at skaters already on the ridge was somewhat demoralizing, but we kept a good pace. At one stage a group of 3 frenchmen got behind me an literally hung on to me while we skated in a fantastic open valley- telling me Technique Australic was magnific- yeah right- i was just trying to stay upright and keep the pace ( thanks DG & Bas). In the next downhill i seemed to have lost my French new friends, and joined another skater in a super tuck downhill, something between Olympic giant slalom posture and total out of control reality, but once again, with more luck than skill, somehow made it to the next uphill, and, suddenly, a 2 km sign to the finish- all uphill of course.

Before i realized, i could hear the shouts of the guys at the finish line- which seemed a long way off- especially the last 100 meters of moderate uphill, and then we were there- happy, and in good shape. Raph arrived a few minutes earlier, and Inna and Eva a while after me- all in good shape and great spirits- it was a really enjoyable event in a fantastic landscape- just what i imagined back in Oz when i read about the race.

The other competitors, almost all French, were very friendly and supportive, and were excited about us making it all the way from Australia to this race. We stayed for the presentation of the trophies and words from the mayor, and were told officials results will be posted soon. I hope it will not be like the Cesenatico experience- we are still waiting- but at any rate, it was great fun

We took the train back to Paris and after a shower and a short rest met for a farewell dinner at our 'local' at place dela republic, where we had a beer( or two) and a great meal and agreed our French experience has been nothing short of- to paraphrase David - Fan tas Tique...

The only bad aspect has been the fact that the French telecoms system was so overloaded and unreliable that our communication system- 1roam, and most other means- proved to be a disaster, or at the very least a challenge of great dimension- but we managed nevertheless.

A 5.30 AM start the next day- for those of us heading to Amsterdam- meant a not too late a night- and so by 1 Am we were tucked in bed.

Next morning we met at Paris Nord, where we boarded the High Speed Thalys train- first class- to Amsterdam. As soon as we got off we gotr an full breakfast, followed by non stop service all the way thru- something none of us experience before, certainly not on a train. At 300 KMH, just faster than our skating speed of recent days- the journey took 4 hours, and we arrived to a rainy Amsterdam and a couple of days break before the next Marathon, Berlin- this Saturday.

Raph and Eva headed to Germany in Search of a rumored skaters paradise just south of berlin, while Peter and Co, as far as we know, are still terrorizing Majorca - we are waiting for update in Berlin. David is at this moment in Utrecht- skating on Ice in a brand new suit- happy after not being able to skate thus far due to foot injury.

Getting ready to get on a train to Belgium, and on to Berlin by tomorrow morning.

[Apologies for the typos- anyone ever used a French Keyboard will be sympathetic...]
note: This post has been spell checked & corrected- post trip on 5.10.07
Next Stop: Berlin

Next Race: Berlin Marathon 29/09

More soon.