The absolute horror of typical Parisian cyclists is a subject which quickly puts me in a foul mood, and means that I have to be in a really good mood in order to go out for a ride. However, there is a very rare but interesting phenomenon which sometimes makes it worthwhile. I am talking about the fact that every once in a while, there is a moderately young female (25-35 years) riding a beautiful road frame on her city bike, which carries the name of some famous cyclist. So far, I have noted Raphael Geminiani, Petit Breton, and yesterday Stablinski. None of the riders were aware of what they were on, and it seems that the bikes were passed on by their ancestors. I guess the correct thing to say is: "Forgive them, grandfather, for they know not what they ride."
The absolute horror of typical Parisian cyclists is a subject which quickly puts me in a foul mood, and means that I have to be in a really good mood in order to go out for a ride. However, there is a very rare but interesting phenomenon which sometimes makes it worthwhile. I am talking about the fact that every once in a while, there is a moderately young female (25-35 years) riding a beautiful road frame on her city bike, which carries the name of some famous cyclist. So far, I have noted Raphael Geminiani, Petit Breton, and yesterday Stablinski. None of the riders were aware of what they were on, and it seems that the bikes were passed on by their ancestors. I guess the correct thing to say is: "Forgive them, grandfather, for they know not what they ride."
-ilan
That is so cool. That's one of the things that I loved about Europe is that history is everywhere, and alive in the culture. City center pedestrian zones wandering through the middle of hundreds of year old churches and buildings, street cafes, bakeries, farmers markets, and people just enjoying being alive and their surroundings. Bill C
pedestrian zones wandering through the middle of hundreds of year old churches and buildings, street cafes, bakeries, farmers markets, and people just enjoying being alive and their surroundings.
That pretty much describes the tourists. The natives are mostly busy running those people over in their cars, or yelling at them, if on foot.
<[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... Bill C a écrit :
Quoted message said:
pedestrian zones wandering through the middle of hundreds of year old churches and buildings, street cafes, bakeries, farmers markets, and people just enjoying being alive and their surroundings.
That pretty much describes the tourists. The natives are mostly busy running those people over in their cars, or yelling at them, if on foot.
pedestrian zones wandering through the middle of hundreds of year old churches and buildings, street cafes, bakeries, farmers markets, and people just enjoying being alive and their surroundings.
That pretty much describes the tourists. The natives are mostly busy running those people over in their cars, or yelling at them, if on foot.
-ilan
I enjoyed Paris, but that was as a tourist and we were staying with my sister-in-law's husbands family who are natives, and they provided the guide service. One of the people you see out running just might be her. She's back in paris for the summer for a couple of symposiums, and managed to arrange to stay for the whole summer. She doesn't ride though. Bill
<[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de news: [email hidden]... | The absolute horror of typical Parisian cyclists is a subject | which quickly puts me in a foul mood, and means that I have to | be in a really good mood in order to go out for a ride. However, | there is a very rare but interesting phenomenon which sometimes | makes it worthwhile. I am talking about the fact that every once | in a while, there is a moderately young female (25-35 years) riding | a beautiful road frame on her city bike, which carries the name | of some famous cyclist. So far, I have noted Raphael Geminiani, | Petit Breton, and yesterday Stablinski. None of the riders were aware | of what they were on, and it seems that the bikes were passed | on by their ancestors. I guess the correct thing to say is: "Forgive | them, | grandfather, for they know not what they ride." | | -ilan |
I've not yet seen one of those, but I'll keep an eye out. A sweet babe on a sweet bike. Can you say "draguer" ?
A while ago, I met some Americans who were here to run in the Paris marathon. They said they saw a lot of runners in the Luxembourg gardens, but I then explained to them that these comprised all the runners in Paris. It is true that there are some well adjusted natives in Paris, but then again, I think native Parisians are a minority in Paris (just another minority group I belong to).
By the way, a pedestrian zone simply means a place where cars (or scooters or bicycles) don't have the right to run you over, but they'll do it anyway. This includes sidewalks.
-ilan
P.S. Thanks for writing "symposiums". I've been hanging out in effete newsgroups too long.
Bill C a écrit :
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Bill C a écrit :
Quoted message said:
pedestrian zones wandering through the middle of hundreds of year old churches and buildings, street cafes, bakeries, farmers markets, and people just enjoying being alive and their surroundings.
That pretty much describes the tourists. The natives are mostly busy running those people over in their cars, or yelling at them, if on foot.
-ilan
I enjoyed Paris, but that was as a tourist and we were staying with my sister-in-law's husbands family who are natives, and they provided the guide service. One of the people you see out running just might be her. She's back in paris for the summer for a couple of symposiums, and managed to arrange to stay for the whole summer. She doesn't ride though. Bill
By the way, a pedestrian zone simply means a place where cars (or scooters or bicycles) don't have the right to run you over, but they'll do it anyway. This includes sidewalks.
-ilan
Ah...The Germans being German have this tendancy to block off those streets with large steel poles sticking up on the end of the streets that they remove in the early mornings for deliveries, and very few other times. I have seen the polizei provide some serious attitude adjustment, including towing the cars of people who did find ways to drive into the pedestrian zones. That may have just been the case in Augsburg and Kaiserslautern. I can't say for certain about other cities because we never spent enough time downtown in any of the others. Though we did spend a fair amount of time in other Rhineland-Pfalz cities. Bill C
I live right opposite one of these pedestrian streets, and my observation of police practice is that the police is given instructions as to what offence will be cited, and the rest is ignored. So, they give tickets to people driving at 5mph without proper justification for using the street (e.g., delivery), while ignoring scooters driving on the sidewalk at moderately high speed. This seems to be the general practice of police in France, at least the "new police," which consists of younger people who mostly get hassled unfairly. The "old police" are the ones who mostly do whatever they feel like, also called the "phone book generation" because they used phone books to beat up suspects without leaving any marks. These are also the ones who torture you when you are in "garde a vue", that is, waiting to see a judge for 72 hours without having the right to see your lawyer, like they did to various cyclists, including framing Cedric Vasseur. A word of advice for anyone visiting or living in France: stay away from these police people. One time, I was waiting under an awning on the rue Bonaparte while it was raining, and I stepped out a little, and almost got hit by a motorcycle policeman driving at 30mph on the sidewalk in order to pass stalled traffic. I was wondering what would have happened if he had hit me. For sure, I or my heirs would have had to pay for the damaged bike. Whether he would have dragged my unconscious body onto the street is another question. However, they have mostly left me alone, probably because I am not of North African (i.e., Arab) descent.
-ilan
Bill C a écrit :
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Ah...The Germans being German have this tendancy to block off those streets with large steel poles sticking up on the end of the streets that they remove in the early mornings for deliveries, and very few other times. I have seen the polizei provide some serious attitude adjustment, including towing the cars of people who did find ways to drive into the pedestrian zones. That may have just been the case in Augsburg and Kaiserslautern. I can't say for certain about other cities because we never spent enough time downtown in any of the others. Though we did spend a fair amount of time in other Rhineland-Pfalz cities. Bill C
I live right opposite one of these pedestrian streets, and my observation of police practice is that the police is given instructions as to what offence will be cited, and the rest is ignored. So, they give tickets to people driving at 5mph without proper justification for using the street (e.g., delivery), while ignoring scooters driving on the sidewalk at moderately high speed. This seems to be the general practice of police in France, at least the "new police," which consists of younger people who mostly get hassled unfairly. The "old police" are the ones who mostly do whatever they feel like, also called the "phone book generation" because they used phone books to beat up suspects without leaving any marks. These are also the ones who torture you when you are in "garde a vue", that is, waiting to see a judge for 72 hours without having the right to see your lawyer, like they did to various cyclists, including framing Cedric Vasseur. A word of advice for anyone visiting or living in France: stay away from these police people. One time, I was waiting under an awning on the rue Bonaparte while it was raining, and I stepped out a little, and almost got hit by a motorcycle policeman driving at 30mph on the sidewalk in order to pass stalled traffic. I was wondering what would have happened if he had hit me. For sure, I or my heirs would have had to pay for the damaged bike. Whether he would have dragged my unconscious body onto the street is another question. However, they have mostly left me alone, probably because I am not of North African (i.e., Arab) descent.
-ilan
That sounds like one of my very first experiences with the Polizei down in Augsburg. I had been warned over and over so I was paranoid and it turned out to be a good thing. I had been in country for about 2 weeks and I was out for a walk. There were a couple of local teens walking behind me and a pair of Polizei coming up the sidewalk, side by side towards me. I decided that crossing the street would be a good move. I went across the street and got to watch the cops and kids meet, neither would give ground. The cops told them to move, and one of the kids made a smart ass remark. After about 30 seconds of nightstick action the cops kicked the kids into the gutter and kept walking, everybody else made sure to act like they hadn't seen anything. Welcome to the Polizei. Needless to say I made it a serious point to be polite and respectful whenever I had to deal with them after that. Bill C
