Got to Paris 5 days ago (I can confirm that Business Class really is the way to travel...) and am getting used to the home country again, even though I often feel like I'v really become completely Americanized. Take my trip to the swimming pool last night.
Now, Parisians are big on swimming, and the city offers 37 city pools that cost like a buck to get into. Most are, of course, in complete disrepair, but some are downright luxurious. And they usually have "real" lap length - 25 meters, not 20 yards... So I was really excited when I found out that there was one a block from my apartment, and that it was opened late on Wednesdays. Since they only allow Speedos (the idea being that you could potentially wear boarding shorts outside the pool, as regular shorts, so it's not hygienic - mmmkay), I tried on the few pairs I had at home in Chicago while packing my bags. They leave very little to the imagination (well, they're Speedos) and I'm really not in the kind of shape to wear them, but I tried to pick the least offensive ones and dumped them in my bag.
Cut to last night when, after a light dinner, I grabbed towel and Speedos and walked to the pool around 8pm. First surprise, it was really crowded - meaning doing actual laps would suck. The bigger surprise though came when I went into the locker room. It was unisex. With a row of cabins on one side, and a bunch of lockers on the other. And there, in front of everyone, were a few people doing the whole "I'll wrap a towel around my ass and pretend it's a cabin while I change". My Americanized mind was already tallying up the lawsuits this would cause in the US. I patiently waited for a cabin to free up and slipped into the aforementioned Speedos. I took a deep breath, and stepped out into the pool area.
As I had feared, the place was jam-packed with a bunch of people. Some people were actually quite fit, which is when Speedos really come in handy of course. There was one kid in particular, probably just old enough to vote, whose package, in pretty much full view, was almost comically, well, there. I reminded myself this was not that kind of place and refocused on the swimming part. I'm actually a fairly fast swimmer, believe it or not, and earned a bunch of gold medals as a kid (the only sport I ever not sucked at). I therefore went straight for the "fast lane", hoping I wouldn't bump into people too much. Turns out the French are full of themselves at the pool too, and the lane was painfully slow. I swam for 15 minutes and then got fed up with swimming right up to people asses and left.
I guess now I have to find a cool gym with a pool. Or go to the Ritz. I wonder if they'd let me get away with board shorts there.
Now, Parisians are big on swimming, and the city offers 37 city pools that cost like a buck to get into. Most are, of course, in complete disrepair, but some are downright luxurious. And they usually have "real" lap length - 25 meters, not 20 yards... So I was really excited when I found out that there was one a block from my apartment, and that it was opened late on Wednesdays. Since they only allow Speedos (the idea being that you could potentially wear boarding shorts outside the pool, as regular shorts, so it's not hygienic - mmmkay), I tried on the few pairs I had at home in Chicago while packing my bags. They leave very little to the imagination (well, they're Speedos) and I'm really not in the kind of shape to wear them, but I tried to pick the least offensive ones and dumped them in my bag.Cut to last night when, after a light dinner, I grabbed towel and Speedos and walked to the pool around 8pm. First surprise, it was really crowded - meaning doing actual laps would suck. The bigger surprise though came when I went into the locker room. It was unisex. With a row of cabins on one side, and a bunch of lockers on the other. And there, in front of everyone, were a few people doing the whole "I'll wrap a towel around my ass and pretend it's a cabin while I change". My Americanized mind was already tallying up the lawsuits this would cause in the US. I patiently waited for a cabin to free up and slipped into the aforementioned Speedos. I took a deep breath, and stepped out into the pool area.
As I had feared, the place was jam-packed with a bunch of people. Some people were actually quite fit, which is when Speedos really come in handy of course. There was one kid in particular, probably just old enough to vote, whose package, in pretty much full view, was almost comically, well, there. I reminded myself this was not that kind of place and refocused on the swimming part. I'm actually a fairly fast swimmer, believe it or not, and earned a bunch of gold medals as a kid (the only sport I ever not sucked at). I therefore went straight for the "fast lane", hoping I wouldn't bump into people too much. Turns out the French are full of themselves at the pool too, and the lane was painfully slow. I swam for 15 minutes and then got fed up with swimming right up to people asses and left.
I guess now I have to find a cool gym with a pool. Or go to the Ritz. I wonder if they'd let me get away with board shorts there.
Labels: paris
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