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Night-Time
Skating In Paris
Where:
Place d'Italie, Paris, France.
When:
Fridays 10:00 pm – All Year Round
Who:
Intermediate to advanced skaters
(Not good for the first time skater)
Wear:
Full protective gear is rare, but it would be best, due to the
changing terrain
Route: New route approved each Wednesday
The
Report:
Twelve skaters from the States & one from Holland met on
April 9th in Paris to join the Pari-Rollers
for their weekly event. they had some folks from Salomon
& some from Miami.
All
of them were prepared to skate a long way.
In
February 1998 the organizers
of the Friday Night Skate (there is another, almost as big &
much slower, on Sunday
that starts at the Bastille & hits all the great sites of
Paris - 2:30 pm. see the Coquillages
Web Site
- this is a different association) predicted that they would
reach 2,000 skaters by the year 2001. In July of 1998 they
achieved 5,000 skaters causing the organizers to change their
estimate to 10,000!
On
the night they went there were 12,000 skaters who happened to
show up for a little social roll. A few
of them showed up in tasteful circus makeup. Only one large hill
causes any concern - wheel man lugged down it. The
"event" was escorted by Police
on motorcycles & skates
(on Sunday). They all could skate with style, including Power
Slides & Showing
off.
The
whole
crowd was blinking
or glowing,
but it would be hard for a car to miss a group that takes
45 minutes to pass. The sites were very Parisian - including the
Eiffel
Tower, & Hans'
butt. A City of Romance.
Massive,
amazing - very well organized with a solid system of blocking
cars just like in Philly - only bigger, & a bit weirder. The
group is stopped every three or four kilometer just to pack
it together. In it's compressed form. it was still 45 minutes
long.
One
person you need to look up if you go is Richard
Migneron - he is a Skate
Guard (you can tell them by the yellow shirts), he speaks
English, he has a good sense of the history. Do know &
understand the Roller Code & check out the flyers that are
handed to waiting motorists & skate participants to let them
know what the deal is.
The
Paris Chronicles
(By a bunch of people trying to explain what happened that
night).
The
Scene:
What
can be said. It is the best place to social skate in the entire
world.
Somehow
a group of skaters have managed to achieve skate night nirvana.
We should bow & be in awe. We have nothing even close to the
kind of movement they have. San Francisco & Philadelphia are
nice, Tampa & Houston had massive crowds. But rarely was
1,000 reached & Paris does 10,000 most Fridays &
Sundays. Go see for yourself & enjoy.
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