[QatzelOk]

Rollerblading in Paris could be a very convenient, ecological and healthy way to get around because of the relatively small size of the city (in area), the high concentration of activities in every neighbourhood, and because virtually every street presents its own charms and visual interest.

So you would think that the city would be on the cutting edge of both biking and rollerblading infrastructure.

You would be wrong.


This is a bicycle path near the Alma bridge over the Seine. Paris has many pieces of bike path like this in many areas. But they are not linked and there is no network to cross the city on. The little bike paths are mainly decorative as there is no way of going from point A to point B without interacting with Paris's notoriously dangerous and unpredictable traffic.

Even the bike paths that do exist present some serious problems. First of all, the road here (like most) is made of cobblestones, which means that it is hell to cross on rollerblades. The texture of the road means you have to slow down (to the point of falling) and you need strong legs to plow your way over this kind of surface. But that's not all...


In Paris, blades are considered "pedestrians" meaning you are expected to usually take the sidewalks, and not the roads. But every sidewalk intersection with the street is guarded with one of these metal or concrete "bubble strips" which have the effect of throwing you off your feet onto the street in front of you, where you will no doubt be met by a red-light burning, cellphone-talking Parisian driver.



Also, driveways cross the sidewalks (!) and, as if finding cars parked in the middle of the walkway wasn't enough, those driveways are cumbersomely textured like this:



The type of contortions and level of concentration required to safely cross these kinds of dangerous and changing textures means that A) Non-athletic, normal people simply don't use them, and B) Even the brave, nothing-to-live-for, 72 virgin-seekers like myself don't get to enjoy the scenery; we're too busy looking at the ground.

Which is a shame.

[Thunderhawk]

Does this 'problematic' design hold true in other cities?


Do you use a mountain bike or a street bike?
I bike over textured pathways with my mountain bike and it does so without much annoyance for me.

[QatzelOk]

The texture changes don't really provide a problem for bikes at all. They just make rollerblading really dangerous and uncomfortable.

The lack of a bikepath network and the general disposition of Parisian drivers makes biking really dangerous though.

Paris is way behind Montreal in this regard.

And that is the subject of my urban planning project. "How to improve Paris's non-motorised vehicular infrastructure"

Coming soon to PoFo!

[Adrien]

You're expecting too much of Paris. It's a monster, an hydre with 20 heads, whithout any kind of organization.

[QatzelOk]

La Défense on Blades

So I set out from my house to go to La Défense - a modernist office tower development just West of Neuilly, a snobby suburb not far from my apartment.

First I head through Neuilly proper.



It's amazing how well those tropical palm trees are doing in Paris. Soon, maybe this will all be desert, and there will only be posters of what it looked like back before the weather "changed." Maybe this will become an oasis.

After about 10 minutes of relaxed blading on nice sidewalks past slow-moving seniors (this is where right-wing candidate Sarkozy hides out between race rallies), you can see the promised land of elevators and briefcases - La Défense - a piece of Houston on the edge of Paris. No wonder the city tore down hundreds of historic buildings to build such a wonderful environment for suits and their secretaries.



You can tell this is going to be the deadest part of the city just by looking at the architecture. So I'm expecting an amazing place to rollerblade at my own pace unbothered by passing old people and Citroens.

But there's a problem.



Just before you arrive in the large central place of La Défense, there is a major texture change. The entire "public" place has been floored in a type of crushed stone that is hell on your blades. This, I am told, is to keep the place free of noise and "bad" people. And it is extremely successful at doing that. Not a "bad" person or noise anywhere.



This photo was taken at 3 pm on a Thursday, so you can imagine how dead and silent it is at night. Nice and clean. No people. Post-nuclear in its perfection and hatefulness.

But I will not be discouraged. There is so much potential in Paris, and I just know I can turn this town onto rollerblading with a smile. I'm going to make it after all.



Meow.

[Adrien]

Aaah, La Défense. It's near Neuilly, but it's also near the shithole that is Nanterre. And I know, that's where my uni is. I pass through the La Défense train station everyday to leave the L-line and take the A-line.

Anyway, yes, it's a bit ugly, it's dead, but some nice happenings take place every now and then.

[QatzelOk]

A guide to rollerblading in Paris

[QatzelOk]

So I took one of these



To this train station



To take a little vacation on the Riviera to forget all the dogs and SUVs of Paris. It is currently raining and late, but it's supposed to be sunny for the next 3 days so...

Coming soon

Bledding in Marseille
One step closer to Algeria.

[QatzelOk]

Bledding in Marseille

Less traffic, many more pedestrians, a relaxed culture, and beautiful scenery, architecture and people, make Marseille an excellent place to ride around on blades or bike.


Right now, the main arteries of the city are being remade to get the car OUT and a major pedestrian and tramway network IN.
But, if you can make it past of all of the construction...



Down to the waterfront, where you are greeted from a scene that looks like every other James Bond exotic locale, complete with suspiciously exotic potential Specter agents (remember them?). "The Brits will know what to do."



So, Mr. Bond, when are you going to heroically save this town from uneven poverty and racial segregation? What's that, James? You're too busy trying to prevent some Arab guy from getting his hands on nuclear technology? Gee, that sounds familiar...



In the meantime, to the church of cars, where there is a large waterside park where the locals smoke weak hash joints, drink beer - or some other yellow liquid - on an empty stomach, and scooter down to catch some fish (or some talk-therapy). The pomo agora.



Finally, something with the coveted "Euro" brand.
The blond tourists who kindly took my photo near this prestigious sign, absent-mindedly forgot to include the blades - the significance of the photo seemingly lost in favour of an aesthetics of monuments.



More texture issues, just like in Paris, only the traffic in Marseille goes a lot slower and there's a lot less of it. This is what makes Marseille more livable than Paris. That and that lack of dogs. And the much lower prices of everything.



And the beauty of the ordinary neigbourhoods, of course.



C'est ça, le principale.

[Abood]

I am loving Marseille.

Also, Qatz, come to Kuwait. Then you'll know how it is living without bike paths.

[Adrien]

Marseille is lame. The city is dirty, people are arrogant, the weather is unbearable. Blah.

[QatzelOk]

Marseille has a lot to admire. Distinct and lively neighbourhoods,
as well as its own style of Modern architecture.



Along with some of the most stunning topography and urban vistas anywhere.





Marseille could be bike and blade paradise...

[Adrien]

Ah! If you can bear the Marseillais yes, I guess.

[Thunderhawk]

Ah! If you can bear the Marseillais yes, I guess.

The French Anthem?

[Adrien]

Hehe, no, our anthem is "La Marseillaise". Actually the song's name is linked to the noun used to describe an inhabitant of Marseille or something coming from Marseille (in the title it's used in its feminine form).

Indeed, during the revolutionary wars, a captain settled in the region of Strasbourg if I'm not mistaken wrote this march for his army, and called it "War song for the Armies of the Rhine".

The thing is that the armies of the south of the country, like that of Marseille, were devout revolutionaries, and consequently the song got much success in their ranks. And when the Marseillais arrived in Paris, they were singing the anthem. As they were hearing it for the first time, the Parisians dubbed the song "La Marseillaise".

Eh, it may help you in a Trivial Pursuit game.

[QatzelOk]

I have been rediscovering my blading routes on my new bike, and I have to say that the bike paths of Paris are not that bad if you're in good shape and don't mind staying focussed a lot of the time.

The canal de l'Ourcq is amazing at night.

I think I like biking here a lot. The traffic is a lot less intimidating than I imagined while on my blades. Which is why I'm glad I bladed for the first 2 months. When you rollerblade in the city, you get to experience its road and trail network the way a child or senior might experience them.

[QatzelOk]

The bike paths of Paris
Why are there no bikes on them?

I just finished a project for my Urban Governance class on Bike Paths in Paris, where I try to figure out why there are no cyclists on Paris's roads. There are about the same number of km of bike paths in Paris as there are in Montreal, so it seems weird that virtually no one in Paris gets around this way.

Until you actually try to bike around Paris...



Paris is a large city with high density residential on its main traffic streets. And yet the city permits really loud motorbikes and dirt buggies (?) to fly around waking everyone up at all hours of the day. It's like hearing lawn mowers and dentist drills every 2 minutes... in your expensive "urban" dwelling.



Paris has some lovely segments of bike path, like this piece on the Seine, right next to the highway ramp where Lady Diana got her wegs cwushed a decade ago. It's a shame that they are often connected by the most dangerous intersections full of the most careless and unpredictable drivers. This is no place for a princess.

There are 350 km of bike paths, and yet virtually no one on them. Why is that?



Parisians are very relaxed about enforcing certain laws. So people park their cars, walk their dogs, or do almost anything they want on these "reserved lanes" without any intervention from the dog-walking police at the Gare du Nord.



At this crosswalk in front of the National Assembly, a green pedestrian light will get you killed. At the very moment the pedestrian crossing-light turns green, right-turning traffic off the Concorde Bridge also gets a green light, and the traffic doesn't stop, it just puts pedals to metal.

This is a killer green. Ironically, there are always armed National Police watching here, looking for "dangerous activities," I presume.



I don't take this kind of "smart" behaviour personally. Parisians also park in front of wheelchair ramps all the time. I guess that's why you don't see any handicapped people strolling around either. Most of Paris is a parking lot.



This is a bike/bus/taxi lane. Better sqeeze over! And I can't imagine sharing a lane with cab drivers back in Montreal. It's like sharing a swimming pool with killer whales.



Here you have another car parked on a bike lane. Avoiding parked cars forces bikes to swerve out into moving traffic, while avoiding any movement by the parked car. These types of "reserved lanes" are probably more dangerous than if there had been no special markings at all. They are just like that "false" green light in front of Sarkozy's face at the National Assembly (I'm sure he doesn't notice it from his limo).



Another trip from my house to Sciences Po without being killed or put into a wheelchair. I am so lucky to be alive. And I will go to bed a bit wiser now that I understand why no one in Paris risks their lives to navigate its unsafe and inconsistent bike network.

[Thunderhawk]

Feeling a bit nostalgic for Montréal?

[Unperson-S]

Qatz, Paris is a historical city, it is not built for the infrastructure of the modern world and is doing the best it can to keep up with modern transportation. You are used to the modern cities of North America, but fail to understand the true beauty of heritage and history, the roads are cobbled because thats how they were built, they may not be suitable for rollerblading, but at least European cities have character and history, rather than desolate grids.

[Thunderhawk]

I think QatzelOk main beef is about Parisians having low civil etiquette. The incumberance of the roads seems to have been dominated by bike.