Dreaming of France: The Paris Metro: It's a work out



One thing we noticed while we were in France last month; there are an awful lot of fit people in Paris. An awful lot of fit and trim, sexy and slim, attractive people. 
Casting Call: Slim, attractive French types please line up

 I blame it on the Metro. My theory is that all the walking to and from the metro, and especially going up and down the stairs of the Paris Metro system has something to do with it. You see, there are very few elevators and escalators. 

The first metro line was opened in 1900 during the Paris World's Fair at a time when no one really thought about elevators. While the system is not so good in terms of its accessibility to the disabled, it's a built-in exercise regime for everyone else. 

By everyone else, I mean the 4 million plus people who use the Paris metro every day! Parisians walk from work or home to and from the metro, rush up and down those stairs, hurry along the sometimes long and winding passages. I say it must be part of what keeps them all looking so trim and slim. Like the trio of modelicious guys I snapped a furtive photo of below. They just happened to be sitting next to each other at the station, waiting for their train, strangers to each other, oblivious to what an excellent advertisement for the health benefits of using the Paris Metro system they were. Ironic isn't it, that they happen to be sitting in front of a billboard for Heineken? My hunch; the only Heineken beer carbs being consumed would be by the guy standing on the platform to the far right. That, my friends, is the very definition of a beer belly. A votre santé!

A question for Monsieur Millennial, Le Professional and Sportif.
Does taking the stairs chase the pounds away?

My husband and I have a lot of marvelous memories of our trip to France. 
This one? It's all mine.

Connect with Paulita at Dreaming of France where Paulita and her husband are mulling over where to live in France.

Popular posts from this blog

5 Ways to feel like you’re in France when you don’t have the francs

Image
Are you Dreaming of France but finding yourself short of the francs you need to take you there? Ladies and Gentlemen, Mesdames et Messieurs, step right up and j oin my travel club and take a journey that won’t cost you a red hot centime. Because this is a trip you take in your mind. Okay, it ’ s not exactly there -there but if you can ’ t actually get to Paris or the Cote d ’ azur, it ’ s the next best thing.  Here ’ s five things to pack in your virtual valise to put you in a French  state of mind.  Substituting French words for English is a great starting point... Un: French Ambience Pretend you live on a charming street near the Eiffel Tower with the simple application of this artistically incorrect mural. How do you say cheesy in french? Or better yet, decorate your home with every  Eiffel tower you can find — never mind most self-respecting French citizens would likely prefer to leave the tour  Eiffel on the Champ de Mars  where  it belongs.  Deux: La mus
Continue Reading »

Above Ground on the London Underground—Day 46: White City

Image
If it's Friday we must be back in London.   Every Friday I take a virtual walking tour ‘above ground’ on the London Underground. Using  my Tube guide & my fitbit® device, my goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day roughly following along the Underground route, reporting back here on Fridays with my findings.  Here are the previous days . This is Day 46. Today we’re walking from the Ealing Broadway underground station to White City. The trek is 4.2 miles which should clock in at just about 10,000 steps.  Back in 1908, the area was transformed from Shepherd’s Bush farm land into the location for the Franco-British exhibition and the 1908 Summer Olympics. Called the white city because of the white cladding of the ornate exhibition buildings, the area was used for the Japan-British exhibition in 1910, the Latin-British exhibition in 1912, and finally the Anglo-American exhibition in 1914 when WWI put an end to it. After that the White City was left to fall into disrepair and ult
Continue Reading »

Baker Street Station—Sherlock Holmes was there

Image
Baker Street Station The main thing my husband wanted to see in London was London ... as Sherlock Holmes saw it. So our first move, like any fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation was to take a double decker bus to Baker Street. As it turns out I read the map upside down or sideways or maybe it was backwards but we found ourselves in Putney at the bridge. Very much in the wrong direction. Over half an hour by car, which we didn't have. We wound up taking the tube back in the right direction which delivered us to the Baker Street Station. The station is one of the original stations opened when the Metropolitan Railway—the world's first underground railway—was built in 1863.  While we don't immediately think of Sherlock dashing out on the tube, he very well could have and in fact the rail, train etc is alluded to in several dozen Sherlock stories. The Baker Street station is situated on the very block where Sherlock lived at 221B Baker Street. Or should I say th
Continue Reading »