Club Med Gym

My gym in Paris is the Club Med Gym.

I've been a member since the very beginning of our lives in Paris -- 2002. I used to go to the gym on rue St. Honore. When we lived on rue de Seine, it was the closest location. I would walk up rue de Seine, pass the statue of Voltaire, go through the little doorway in the stone next to the Institute de France, cross the Pont des Arts, cross the street, go through the Cour Carre of the Louvre, then cross rue de Rivoli. I loved the walk more than the gym.

The gym was in the basement, no windows. It was filled with flagrantly gay men wearing next to nothing. They did more talking and parading than working out.

When we moved, I missed the walk to this gym but not the gym itself.

Now, my gym is the Club Med Gym, rue de Rennes. The walk is not spectacular. Up rue de Fleurus to rue de Rennes. It takes about the same amount of time as the old walk, about 10 minutes. My warm up.

The gym itself is better. Most of it is on the ground floor of a building, and the ceiling is glass in part of it, so it feels a little bit less claustrophobic. There are plenty of women of all ages at this location. They take the classes. Popular classes are stretching, and something called "Culture Physique". I have no idea what it is, but about 40 women take every class. They all look good too, so maybe I should try it.

The gym was remodeled last year. It was closed completely during the remodeling. When it was finished, I realized that all they did was move the equipment around. It took two weeks. Everything else was the same. And, I liked the layout better the old way.

Gyms in France are not big like they are in the US. There are lots of treadmills and elliptical trainers and bikes, like the US, but the weight machines are limited and difficult to figure out. There is one of each thing.

The men do an unusual thing. They seem to try to "hog" two pieces of equipment at one time, while using neither. Here's how it works: the man in question is sitting on one machine, reading a book. He doesn't move for a long time. The machine next to him has a water bottle and a cell phone on it. They are his. If you want to use the machine with his "stuff" on it, he will claim he's using it. If you stare at him while he's sitting and reading, he won't look up or notice you at all. I have no idea what the term, "working in" is in French or if it even exists.

So, the devilish one, me, just pretends not to notice any of this. I've started moving the cell phone, water, towel, or whatever is on the other machine. This gets an immediate response from "the reader", who claims that he's using THAT machine. Then, we have to go through the whole discussion of which machine is he really using -- the one that's really a library or the one that's really his locker. Eventually, I win. I'm sure I'm getting a reputation at the Club Med Gym.