Paris Memories

While I do get nostalgic for Paris on a regular basis, a friend recently reminded me about the first time I lived and worked in Paris in 2007-2008. This was on my year out, and while I did not cycle, I did work in a bar.
Times were good and nights were long and blurry. These were the days when I first fell in love with Paris and I really started to improve my French.
I even managed to got to see the France v Ireland rugby game in Stade de France which was awesome, even though we lost.

Sorry this post is short, but I'll be writing more inane ramblings about cycling soon.

Featured in the video are Bláthmac, Brian and Minty, as well as me of course.

High fives to Minty for putting it together.

Cheap Restaurants I love in Paris

Continuing on from the theme of places to recommend friends I'm going to do one on food, these are more varied in their location, but I still recommend every one is worth a visit.

While not all of them are classic French Bistros it's Paris and there is one of these on every corner; I'm sure you will have no problem finding them. This however is a list of my favourite places to bring friends when they visit. Good places at good prices, and not all French.

Also worth a special mention are all the people who first brought me to these places. You are far too numerous and awesome to list. Sophie, Katie, Emma, Tom, my Dad and..... Hmm I guess not that numerous actually. Maybe just your awesomeness is too awesome to list. But hey, you have good taste and like eating out.

Cheap Bars and Clubs in Paris

So recently a few friends of mine have been passing through Paris, and as I am now hibernating in Zurich I have decided to provide a few helpful tips for people who want to go there on the cheap.

Since I don't feel like writing a long email every time some ones looking for tips I would far prefer to just send them a link and be done with it. No offence, just this allows me to build and improve the list rather than trying to remember in each email (as well as shameless self promotion of my blog of course).

These tips are based on my experience of Paris and as I'm sure you will notice there is an underlying preference for the Chatlet area as well as an anglophone trend. Why you ask, well apart from central location, good atmosphere and cheap beers, I used work in the area and still know people working at the majority of these bars. Hi folks if you're reading.

This is my no nonsense guide:

Languages and Emigration

Pouletbrustgeschnetzeltes = Diced chicken breast

It's not often I post about very personal topics, but I have been giving this a lot more thought recently.

As a not so recent immigrant in Paris I had the benefit of speaking the language, and not just speaking but being able to make jokes and just feel within my comfort zone. However now the situation is reversed and the very comfortable French shoe is now on the other German foot.
These language skills however did not the result of diligent hard work in school, but rather a diverse family background.

Struggling with languages is something most people will go through in their life, the brave will stick it out and struggle though different tenses, vocab and genders in an attempt to integrate, the weak however will only give a basic holiday attempt at other languages for ordering beer, before reverting back to the traditional Anglophone approach of just repeating the English version of the word louder  until something happens.

However as the mass exodus of Ireland continues it becomes more and more clear that having a second European language is possibly the greatest asset that you could hope for. The appeal of a second language is however completely over looked by the school system and more importantly the students them selves who often don't make a genuine effort to learn. Well let me assure you; paying a minimum of 500€ a month for the classes you got for free in school is indeed a shocking learning incentive.

As the job situation in London hits saturation point what will become of the immigrant who refuse to leave their comfort zone of the English language? Already horror stories are coming to the fore of former school mates working in America on long expired holiday visas who are trapped; unable to return for Christmas, birthdays or funerals.

Long gone are the days where Irish people could simply think that "I'm sure someone will speak English", as we now live in a society where minimum of 3 international languages is the norm, and these people are also applying for the same jobs as you.

Recently I have started using the Rosetta Stone language learning programme which is supplementing 1 months intensive German classes at a school. To what avail? Well the hope is that by seriously investing in the language I will make myself a more appealing candidate to potential employers.

The main downside of learning German in Switzerland though is that no one here really speaks "high" German, opting instead for the local dialect of Swiss German. This  frustratingly means that you never hear any of the words or phrases you learn and even when you speak German you will be speaking a "foreign" language.

For those of you who arrive to a Country and can't speak the local language I would encourage taking classes as soon as you arrive. Not only does it help improve your confidence but it also gives you a new group of new people, who are usually also new to the country and eager to make friends.

Critical Mass Paris - a cycling phenomenon

So after having witnessed an incredibly large gathering of roller bladers in Paris I asked myself could it be possible that cyclists do the same thing? 

After some research, which lets be honest is a little more difficult when your trying to transcend the language barrier, I found out the following.

There is an international movement called “critical mass” this movement is basically a big get together of 100 to 60,000 cyclists going for a group cycle. These events are generally loose in their organisation and lack the kind of leadership that would make it an official organisation or protest. The benefit of the event is a car free cycle through your respective city with many of your fellow cyclists, while making a clear statement about the importance and benefits of cycling. The cars aren't formally blocked but muscled out of the way by the sheer numbers of bicycles. The lack of clear and formal organisation is mainly due to people avoiding legal issues and responsibilities.

rahhh - photo not actually in Paris

The difficult thing for English speaking people researching this movement in Paris though is that its not called critical mass, its called “Velorution” and the website seems to currently be under construction because I am currently having problems accessing any specific information from it. Again though this could be due to the fact that it tries to keep a low profile on its events for legal reasons.

However I have managed to ascertain the following information from another website which has the most comprehensive list of meetings I have managed to find to date, and the good news is that YES Paris does have a monthly meeting!

Rides are held on the first Saturday of every month at Place de la Bastille at 2pm.

Being on holidays for the next month means that I wont be able to attend the meeting for August, but to be honest I’d expect that meeting to be pretty calm seeing as most Parisians will be on holidays. 

However if you are interesting a great first hand account there is a great article about it here from another girl who seems to be quite like me.

Playing Petanque at the Bassin de la Villette

Why is it when Irish people go anywhere on holiday it rains? 

This stereotype has never been more clearly demonstrated than by my friends recent visit to Paris. one month earlier we had been basking in glorious sunshine and 30 degree heat and next thing you know Irish people arrive and we get rain, clouds and a temperature maximum of 18 degrees.

Anyway after the lamented departure of my Irish compatriots a mandatory heatwave ensued. what to do during the hot weather in Paris is always a difficult question, considering Paris has a complete lack of coast line (a la Dublin) or complete lack of swimmable rivers and lakes (a la Zurich).

Of course the city's way of compensating for this is with the “Paris Plage” this phenomenon is when they shut down some of the streets around the Seine and turn them into “beaches”. A lot of people are quick to criticise these spaces and while they are far from the real thing they do allow people such as myself to don a bikini and douse myself with ice cold water every 20 minutes right in the centre of Paris. 

Nothing seems stranger than sunbathing in said bikini while 200 tourist walk past on the bridge above you on the way to Notre Dame, but having frequented Paris Plage previously in 2008, trust me the break from the heat is a welcome relief.

the grass and deck beaches mean no sand in your swimsuit

However seeing as this year Paris Plage only starts on the 20th of July an alternative has to found, and considering the only thing your likly to enjoy along the seine at the moment is a mouth full of car and tour boat exhaust fumes, the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th seemed like a suitable waterside solution. Cycling along one of my favourite routes by the Canal I once again enjoyed seeing people out enjoying the hot weather, even if it was a little quieter seeing as it was an ordinary working day and the extreme heat was forcing people to stay out of the direct heat.

Having so few people about though was a bonus and upon arriving to the canal I managed to find a perfect spot by the waterside, but with lovely tree casting a shadow onto the ground nearby.

After spreading out my picnic blanket and pillow people slowly started arriving. While the aim of the day had been to play petanque (see my version of rules below), chilling out and chatting seemed higher on the agenda. While we did have one or two games we only ever played to first to 5 instead of the traditional 13. We even managed to get our photo taken for the local website (bottom right), in an article about the heat wave.

our picture from the article

With the sun still beating down and shadows on the south side of the canal becoming more and more scarce we switched sides before hunger finally drove us home. Seeing as it was now quite late in the evening, the canal had completely changed from a meagre scattering of sunbathers earlier in the day, to crowded and busy, with brasseries and cafés in full swing.

Over all a good day and some nice cycling. Also I was very grateful to have my saddlebag with me so I could put the game of boules on my bike, because an 8 ball set is quite heavy.

For those of you not familiar with petanque here is a quick summary the rules I know.

1.    Each person gets 2 balls or “boules”
2.    Someone throws the small ball called the “le cochonnet” or jack
3.    Everyone takes turns to throw 1 of their balls closest to the jack
4.    The furthest person away goes first in the second round of ball throwing , followed by the next furthest ect.
5.    The person with their ball closest gets one point
6.    If the same person owns the 2 closest balls they get 2 points
7.    This traditionally continues until someone reaches 13, or what ever number everyone agrees on, as people get bored easily
 

Apparently you can play in teams ect, but not too sure about that. I do know that if you are only 2 people you can split the balls evenly getting 3-4 balls each, which means the points go up faster and the game is shorter.

A Ride through Cycling History

Postponing this exhibition until my fellow bicycle fanatic friend Helen arrived, I was not disappointed.

This exhibition called Voyages a Vélo, is located in the heart of the Marais and is not very obvious to the public being located up a small side street in a generally unremarkable building.

After a quick snack of excellent falafel and a coffee, we felt the time was right to go for a spin into check out these bicycles. The exhibition costs €3-€6, and after asking for the “tariff reduit” we quickly viewed the small section upstairs before making our way down to the main exhibition space downstairs.

I took one photo without any flash before being told that all photography was forbidden. However you can still take more in secret without the flash as there are not too many security people.

The exhibition chronicles the development of the bicycle through time, and starts out appropriately enough with the “hobby horse” style bicycle before starting to explain the popularity of this type of transport as well as its development. While the exhibition is all in French some of the funniest parts were the posters and articles in English from England which clearly demonstrates the type of stuffy upper middle class people that would have been able to afford a bicycle at the time.

The exhibition is overall interesting enough and has a great selection of bicycles as well as bicycle paraphernalia from different eras. Having read up a little on the history of the bicycle before going I especially enjoyed seeing the development of ladies and cycling. Originally the ladies bicycle was a giant cumbersome beast of a contraption kinda like a giant 3 wheeled tricycle, the ladies eventually  saw how pointless these were and instead of developing the bicycle decided to develop their clothing to be more suited to riding “men's” bicycles. Hence ladies trousers or “bloomers” were born and women started to develop “rational dress” . All joking aside the bicycle was credited to have greatly effected the women's rights movement and this can clearly be seen in the fact that most of the posters in the exhibition have a woman in the foreground. Including the poster for the exhibition itself.

What was also really impressive to see was how organised cyclists were back then and you could view old cycle lane maps for around the greater Paris area as well as leaflets telling you how to defend your rights on the road as a cyclist.

Overall the exhibition takes a look at the development of bicycles and bicycles as a hobby and I really enjoyed it. The Exhibition also has a great book that accompanies it but it sadly costs €20 and is only in French. If you have any interest in bicycles get on your bicycle and head over to this before it ends. Ironically though its central location on a small street in the Marais means that bicycle parking is not easily available and you will have to walk a bit to get there.

Anish Kapoor - inside the Leviathan

So after many an unfruitful attempt at visiting this exhibition I finally managed to gain entry to the inside the belly of the Leviathan.

The day we went happened to be one of the most unpredictable days weather wise I have ever experienced. One moment the sun is shining down, and the next, usually when you have finally decided to brave the concept of going outside the heavens open up and release a deluge that seem to suggest that god himself is angry with you. 

However this did result in a smaller than usual queue at the exhibition, but this didn't matter as I had already booked and printed out our tickets from on-line

Visiting this time with 2 friends from Ireland, we proceeded to take photos in the spirit of the exhibition.

After a quick stroll around we  entered into the belly of the beast with absolutely no wait, apparently there had been a performance on in the space last time I visited and this resulted in the large slow moving queue. Entering the dark space through a rotating black door you instantly notice your ears popping as a result of the change in air pressure required to keep the large structure inflated. The sound of people tapping and banging the outside skin is also far more interesting from the inside as the noise echo's and reverberates remarkably. 

While I had previously been cursing our fowl luck with the ever changing weather I was now enraptured with what seemed like a veritable performance from the sky, one moment the sky being cloudy leaving the Leviathan dull and dark

inside

and the next the sunlight piercing through the clouds creating dramatic cast shadows and a series of ooohs and ahhs from the enveloped crowds. 

After enjoying the internal experience of the Leviathan as well as the now obligatory posing we proceeded to go back out to the rest of the exhibit have a further look around the beast.

speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil

A browse through the book shop was required in order to escape the fresh shower that had just started, but after another series of funny poses we were more than satisfied and happily on our way. 

 

For those of you still interested in going the exhibition finished on the 23rd of June. Sorry

Rock and stroll - Cité de la Musique

With only 2 days left before my 26th birthday I finally managed to get out to the visit the Cité de la Musique. This Museum is not as central as the rest and is located in the 19th Arrondisment in the Park de la Villette, this however is a bonus as it allows me to take my favourite route along the canal to get to the museum.

Arriving to the the museum the entrance is clearly posted and is actually incorporated into one of Bernard Tschumi's  red “folly's”. When you enter the space you are instantly impressed by the size of the space. 

After getting my free ticket I proceeded through the music shop to the start of the exhibition. Clearly a question that had come to my mind before attending the museum was how do they exhibit something visually, that can really only really be experienced by listening, without having a series of clashing speakers blaring out random sounds in an effort to compete with each other. Well the solution was actually easier than I imagined. This museum provides every one with a audio guide, this guide has headphones and allows you to key in a number beside displays, screens and instruments. This allows you to synchronise up to the relevant TV screen and listen to the opera being performed, the historical background of the instrument, interviews and you can even listen to individual instruments being played.

The museum itself has a large collection of very ornate and old instruments and as you slowly wind your way up to though the different ages it becomes very interesting to learn when and how new instruments that we now take for granted were invented and introduced to the public, as well as seeing instruments that are now nearly obsolete.

triple guitars?

The day we were there was very quiet but there was still a live demonstration by a very talented man on the trombone. He explained the instrument how it worked and how he created the different sounds, as well as playing some very good music.

Arriving into the final space is the most impressive as this is housed in the topmost roof space.

This space also starts to chronicle the development of modern recording and mixing techniques, and has a good selection of early mixing desks which now seem so large and cumbersome that its funny. However the museum does only have a limited amount of stuff about the development of modern music, as it seems to concentrate mainly on the classical side, which is a shame as it hardly acknowledges the development of rock punk techno. But then I suppose you would need an entire other museum to properly chronicle the development of music in the last 100 years. 

The final displays deal with instruments from different cultures such as India Africa and China, these sections are quite small though but still impressive.

Only after exiting the museum  did I see the sectional model and realise that there is actually a entire theatre music space located just beside the museum, and that is why the entire building is called the Cité de la Musique. Next time I visit I plan on seeing a performance.

the museum is the small narrow part on the left of the auditorium

Otherwise the museum was very enjoyable even for someone who has no grounding in music and does not play any instruments it was very basically and easily explained. The museum is also much larger than I thought and as a result my audio guide ran out of battery in the last portion of the museum. With lots of bicycle parking located in the park de la Villette right outside I would recommend going for a picnic with some friends before heading in.

The power of words at the The museum of Letters and Manuscripts

Having recently limited my visits of museums to ones solely located in the museum pass guide, it was nice to go to a much smaller museum off the beaten path. Brought to my attention by a friend who is always bringing me to new places when she visits me in Paris. The museum of letters and manuscripts is located on the Boulevard Saint Germain and is indeed something I would have never visited by myself as the museum is surprising larger than the modest doorway is is located through.

This museum is not part of the free for under 26s category but I only had to pay a mere €5 to get in. The current temporary exhibition is about the impressionist artists and features many letters from the most famous impressionist to each other. 

As an anglophone it is slightly disappointing but yet understandable that this small museum does not have the explanatory texts translated into English. Most of the letters collected by the museum are by French people who seem to have possibly the worst handwriting ever. This however is compensated by the some of the other sections of the museum which are divided into some interesting categories, such as music - Beethoven,  science - Einstein,  writers - Victor Hugo and political leaders such as JFK. Most interesting for me was seeing some famous writers letters such as Oscar Wilde and Hemingway. Also on show was Thomas Edison sketches showing how the light bulb was invented(most likely drawn during the day). 

This small museum is definitely worth a visit and since it is not one of the mainstream museums there are no queues and you will find yourself in a calm tourist free atmosphere where you can enjoy most of the exhibition spaces alone. There was plenty of bicycle parking available across the road and the area is also quite central and its easy to find lots of nice little restaurants for lunch or dinner after.

Time and Error at the Decorative Arts museum

Once again my in ability to schedule correctly has left me with what I would describe as a partial visit to a gallery or exhibition, this time to the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, or decorative Arts museum to you and me. 

After recently discovering that this museum is in fact located in the North Western wing of the Louvre I was quite eager to go check it out. However arriving a mere 1 hour before the closing of the museum is not recommended as the museum is much larger than I predicted and spread out over 9 floors the top one of which is actually located in the tower at the very end of the Louvre. 

After having a quick wander through the animals and design section, where we views crocodile tables, dog chairs, and leopard skin coats, we wandered over to the tower which chronicled the development of design from the 40s to the 2000s. Getting the lift to the 9th floor was quite exciting and when you enter the space you can instantly recognise that you are in the tower part of the Louvre. 

After trying to quickly make my way through the decades I got as far as the chairs in the 60s and 70s before getting completely distracted  and spending all my time sitting in the hanging transparent egg chair watching clips from 60/70s films with chairs in them. Boom time to go.

After rushing out I was very disappointed that I did not get to see more of the museum especially the section on  toys, art deco, and fashion and textiles. However the good news is that I will be able to visit again, just that I will have to pay the price (€9) of being a 25 year old who can’t get up early.

3rd time lucky for visiting Anish Kapoor

The name of this series of exhibitions at the Grand Palais is called “Monumenta” and despite first impressions this does not make direct reference to the size of the queue at the door

So after trying to go to this exhibition 2 times previously I finally bit the bullet at bought the tickets on-line before going as time was running short. The effort and extra €1 of having bought the tickets on-line was definitely worth it as we swanned directly with no hassle and more importantly no queue.

For people that have never been to the Grand Palais before lets make one thing clear. Its a one trick pony. That trick being one giant space with a 200meter long Nave and a 45 meters beneath its central dome and the pony being the Epic (capital E) building that it is.

Entering the space I was at once hit by the sheer size of the work of art. Its HUGE. After a quick wander around though I noticed another queue. That's right there is a second queue inside the exhibition to enter into the space of the “leviathan”. Yup, another queue. And this one was also quite long and to top it off seemed to be moving slower than your average snail.

this photo was taken from our position in the queue (see left)

After queueing for 15minutes, we realised that this was a pointless effort as we had planned to meet friends for drinks soon. And decided to enjoy the rest of the exhibition. The rest of the exhibition was really good, in so far as we just walked around the giant object and were constantly impressed by its sheer size.

When we did finally manage to meet our friend for drinks, I was disappointed to hear that the best part of the exhibition is indeed getting inside the object. Still I did enjoy the exhibition and will definitely be going again soon to see the interior.

Here are some tips given to me by my friend who has already been.

• Try and go first thing when it opens in the morning
• Buy your tickets on-line
• Go on a sunny day as apparently the shadows of the roof structure of the Grand Palais on the inside of the leviathan space is quite striking.

Park Life - La Villette

One of cycling in Paris's most hidden gems is definitely the canal, this Thursday being a public holiday and also one of the most beautiful days so far this year, I had the luck to be invited up to Parc de la Villette in the 19th for a general hang out in the sun.

So in order to benefit of this fantastic day I had completely off work I headed off. 

The trip to the park was nearly as nice as the park itself. The canal is one of Paris's most underrated public spaces and feels like an authentic slice of parisian life as there are hundreds of people sitting by the canal chatting or playing games and not a tourist to be seen. There are also lots of great little bars and bistros that line the canal and these were full of people, the most popular with a queue to buy drinks a snacks for the all the people sitting out along the canal.

Another great thing about cycling along the canal is the dedicated bicycle lanes, so apart from a few large junctions you wont have to even think about where you going or watch the traffic, you just simply go with the flow. Here is the route I followed.

One thing most new people to Paris don’t realise is the value and importance of these public parks and spaces in Paris. While for example everyone in Ireland strives to have a semi-detached house with a front and back garden, parking place and 2 hour commute to work, the approach here in Paris is different. Space is at a premium and living within the Peripherique is seen as a lucky privilege that you will sacrifice a lot for including

• A significant percentage of your wage,
• the option of not having more than 3 people(including yourself) visiting in your 10sqm “chambre de bonne”
• standing room in your sleeping area
• cooking facilities
• a toilet in your apartment,
• a washing machine
• your own room
• sleeping in the living room
• any options of having pets larger than a gerbil,

while to a lot of my Irish friends might seem horrified at the thought of the circumstances mentioned above, most of my Parisian friends will sympathise that these are some or all the things that you will compromise on in order to benefit of the glory of living in a city where real-estate is counted in meters squared and not how many bedrooms.

So while people do sacrifice allot in terms of their living standards this is compensated for by the fact that we live in Paris, one of the greatest city's in the world, and since the option of comfortably accommodating friends in your living quarters is often not an option this is why things like, meeting a friend for a coffee during the day, going for a quiet demi in the evening and meeting friends far a picnic in a park is so popular in Paris.

Essentially

• The restaurant is your kitchen and dining room
• The café's and bars are your living room
• The public park is your back garden
• Your apartment is your bedroom

Parks in Paris act like everyone's shared back gardens, on a sunny day you will see literally hundreds of people of all different ages, races, social classes and  occupations appearing in their droves to benefit or some sunshine and open space. Where as parks and playgrounds in Ireland can be a realm left to mainly bums and drunken teenagers, in Paris they become very much a family affair with lots of children actually playing in them, teenagers and adults practising their dancing, fitness enthusiasts doing yoga and capoera, people juggling,  musicians strumming guitars, people reading and sunbathing  and friends picnicking. 

photo was taken when leaving around 9 so many people had left

Parc de la Villette was very busy when I arrived but still had acres of space compared to the nearly shoulder to shoulder experience you can get in some other parks. It is a great park mainly due it its large size and variety of spaces, also it seemed to be lacking many of the unsavoury characters which are usually present in more central parks and spaces that are more frequented by RER lines and tourists.

If you are living or even just visiting Paris I would recommend taking some time out and check out the canal for a walk and lunch and then go for a relax in the park de la Villette or one of Paris's many other parks. With the weather only set to improve it is definitely time to get your picnic blanket washed, buy a set of plastic dish ware and “en profitez”.

Going Postal in Paris' Post Office Museum

Continuing with my pre birthday theme of museums, I decided to finally take a trip to the L’adress Musée de la Poste or in English: the post office museum. This museum is a little further out than the other museums I have visited recently but I enjoyed my now quite regular route along the south bank of the seine.  The museum is located right beside the Gare Montparnasse, and there was plenty of places for me to park my bicycle within a minutes walk.

Arriving in I quickly got a ticket and was informed to take the lift on the right to the 5th floor. No problem. This is one of the few museums I have visited that has been located in a modern building, as a result sometimes the spaces can feel a bit clinical and the exit out of the exhibition was a maze of fire exits reminiscent of leaving the cinema.

Anyway,  moving along I arrived up into the museum into a small entrance space filled with children...... not good, for those of you who don't know me I’m not a big fan of one child, multiply that by 20 and add a guide from the museum who was encouraging  them to get involved in the exhibitions by making more noise than a bag of cats fighting.

While the kids looked like they were having loads of fun I on the other hand was not, and i often has to double back into previous rooms that I had escaped earlier, as well being at one point chased by a congo line of the brats making choo choo train sounds, as directed by the “animatrice”.

For the most part the exhibition itself is quite good. It is dispersed over 15 different rooms on varying levels, each with a different theme in chronological order  which slowly bring you down to the ground floor. The exhibition started in chronological order and explained the start and development of the postal system in France, including some really interesting old maps that showed the routes the letter's followed, old carrages and the pinnacle of mail delivery bicycles!!

One of the best sections by far(once the brats were gone) was the one about the development of airmail. At the time this was a major advancement in postal delivery, and perhaps the most moving thing is reading about the crashes the pilots survived and more regrettably the ones they didn’t survive. Moving stuff.

French stamps featured in style have a dedicated room to themselves, chronicling their development and showcasing all the different designs and how they are made, pretty interesting I suppose if your into that sort of thing.

Afterwards I breezed through the modern and temporary section, which was not so interesting, and left via the confusing maze of doors and corridors. Would I go again? Ya I suppose but it would have to be with a friend who like stamps.

A late start with the Gustave Moreau Museum

After a late start to that day I decided not to be discouraged by the time and  take a quick spin to check out the Musée Gustave Moreau. The museum is located up a quiet sub-street around the Galeries la Fayette, Trinité district in the 9th and thanks to my handy map book was it okay to find, but not great for bicycle parking. 

For the record this museum is the house where the artist worked and lived and he apparently made all the modifications himself to allow him to turn the very large house into apartments and a workshop.

When getting my ticket in the ticket lady informed me that the museum rooms were going to be shutting in 20min, however I was none the less discouraged and proceeded with my visit.

The first part of the house is pretty boring especially if you are not a Moreau fan and don't really know any of his work or any of the family's history, but it is an authentic snap shot into what a house of this era was like and to sum it up in one word - cluttered. I suppose the best thing for me was the old school toilet. The fittings were pretty awesome, and probably used by the artist himself! 

Anyway after leaving the apartment part of the house by moving up  the next flight of stairs I was impressed, the space was massive and covered wall to wall with giant paintings, all of which are reminiscent of the pre-impressionist glory days of the academic salon. 

Sketches and smaller scale paintings were also on show but being so numerous they were housed in cleverly hidden and organised wall units or boxes with sliding panels in the centre of the floor.

After going up the impressive winding staircase finding myself in another large room full of paintings, it was similar to the last one, but I decided to stop and read some of the information sheets and learn a bit about some of the more famous paintings.

Shortly after I left overall feeling contented but not impressed. Once again the museum is impressive and a true snap shot into the life and works of this amazing and significant artist. The only problem for me personally though is that I don’t really have any previous knowledge of the artist and found it hard to be enthusiastic about paintings or the house, especially as a basic guide to the museum was not provided to me.

My advice bring someone who knows about Gustave Moreau and can help fill you in on what your supposed to be appreciating, otherwise you can technically visit everything in 20 minutes.

Cycling for exercise and weight loss, as oppose to getting around.

While I cycle for pleasure, speed, freedom and economic reasons there are many people who use cycling as a form of official exercise for health and weight loss. So while I might not be a fitness trainer here is some basic information that I have been able to research about the benefits of cycling, using myself as the example I have calculated:

• 30 min cycle at 12-14 mph the result is 230 calories burned, compared to
• 30 min walking at 3mph the result is 115.
• 30 min running at 8mph the result is 355
• 30 min running at 6mph the result is 264
• 30min metro ride where you spend 3 minutes using the stairs the result is 21

So the winner is clearly running fast. How ever I really don’t enjoy running and as one website recommends its better to take up a kind of exercise you will enjoy, otherwise you just wont stick to it. 

here is a handy chart, just to compare

The results are also pretty interesting as I was always under the impression that cycling burned less calories than walking, but the one flaw in the calculation system is that it is probably only calculated with consistent cycling at consistent speeds. Not stopping and restarting at lights or slowly weaving in and out of traffic. how ever what will definitely lower the calorie loss is free-wheeling. For those of you that are not familiar with the term free-wheeling is when you stop pedalling on the downhill slopes, essentially just sitting on your ass and letting gravity do the hard work. When you walk you cant free-wheel, so the method of calculating calories for cycling becomes more difficult.

One thing that all the websites seem in agreement about though is the benefits of increasing your heart rate, cycling certain routes that are more strenuous i.e. uphill will be better for both your heart and your calorie count. On this particular note, let me recommend a few good routes that I enjoy in Paris.

My favourite climb is Rue St Jacques, its a steep climb and I do it quite often as one of my  favourite bars is located at the top. 

I used to find it quite difficult when I started cycling, but since my fitness levels have increased I push myself to go faster and faster up the slope and the enjoy the feeling of my heart pounding on arrival for my well deserved drink. 

my place to wos bar

Otherwise my old route home from work is also a nice gentle slope uphill on the boulevard Magenta and Sebastopol. But this route is not very enjoyable due to the many traffic lights and pedestrians who walk onto the bicycle lane, especially on Boulevard Magenta. Otherwise you could always try and brave the hill to the Rue Mouffetard.

To try and calculate the distances you are travelling I would recommend using google maps, and using the directions function in walking mode. This can be very handy if you want to see how far you are travelling on a regular route you use, for example you commute to work.

Here for example is my route to work.

This is my route home

Looking at this you can see that I only travel a modest 5.6km total to and from work. This is not a lot and to be honest only equals about 15-20min on the bike, or like less than 200 calories.

The important thing about losing weight though is that you still need to consume less calories than you are expending, so the age old excuse of "I’ve cycled a lot today I can treat myself to an extra éclair" at dessert is not going to fly. 
Also muscle weighs more than fat, so while you might think that you are not losing any technical weight your body is becoming fitter, more toned and using the calories that you consume more efficiently.

Middling visit to the Middle Age Museum

So having passed this museum on soo many occasions it was finally nice to  get a chance to see what its like on the inside. Hidden behind a bunch of trees right on the Boulevard St Michel is the Musée du Moyen Age. This is hidden gem of a museum and after a quick walk around the corner I discovered the entrance, which appropriately enough has castillations.

Entering the museum through the small courtyard I got my ticket and was in. The museum starts off modest enough before opening up into large banqueting like spaces. 

There are info sheets in three languages  located in every room, and from these I learned some interesting facts, such as that the statues on the façade of Notre Dame were in fact vandalised and the original ones are actually here in the museum.

Moving on through the rest of the museum I generally enjoyed the exhibit which consisted of statues, religious relics, paintings, stained glass and many many tapestry's. Included the most famous of these the Lady and the Unicorn. 

Most of all though I enjoyed being in a museum that had the genuine character of what it was exhibition. 

I suppose the downside to the museum was that I didn’t really get a feeling for what Paris was like in the middle ages, its more looking at artefacts. Where as my personal preference would have been maps and artists impressions, but then I do love maps so maybe that's just me, also a lot of the war armour, swords ect, is all at the Musee de l’Armée, which I went to the other week, and it was Awesome(capital A)