Swimming in Paris
Most people think Parisians sit in cafés all day long, that they never exercise and they are thin because of something they eat. Likely the cheese and wine that makes their gut bacteria that perfect solution that makes you lose weight with no effort.
All true.
And also...Paris is a giant jungle gym for adults. You can't take care of your daily life without going up and down stairs, and up and down streets. Plus, Paris has a gazillion swimming pools that are always full.
So somebody is working off the comté.
But I still think DNA is at play because my Canadian body stayed pretty much the same in Paris. A little less or more the same. Quelle dommage. And near the end, a little more of the more because I felt I had to eat one of everything before I left.
"The only reason I work out is to live longer so I can eat more cheese and drink more wine." —Ricky Gervais
But I walked up and down those stairs and I ate all the things they ate. So who knows.
What I do know is this:
They don't go on about body issues like it's a pillar of their value system.They don't buy into dietainment. (That's a link to a commercial about dietainment... good to watch.)They don't berate themselves whenever they eat something delicious.Even when I'm in Paris, I don't have the same problems I have when I live in North America. And my body isn't better or worse for it. It's astoundingly the same. The only time I talk about it in Paris is when a friend from North America is visiting and brings it up. And then I think, "Oh yeah, my body issues. I forgot about them."But the Parisians do exercise, not so much to be skinny, but because it's a pleasure, like when they slowly swim up and down the length of the pool. No one slips into the pool with the Make-It-Count mind that races body issues to the end of the pool.Anyway, I didn't expect this sermon on the "mound," so to speak. I just wanted to show you my January Paris Letter about life in the pool in Paris.
And also to show you some ideas for what Paris might do with their 11 ghost stations. These are Métro stations that were closed some time ago because of remapping the system or whatever else. One idea is a pool:
Another is a night club:
And it wouldn't be Paris without adding a garden in there:
Read more about the proposed projects here, and if you'd like the January Paris Letter, get it over at my shop.
