 Lance Armstrong
For the third successive year, Lance Armstrong has proven that he’s the most complete cyclist of July. And in the minds of most riders – particularly the likes of, Jan Ullrich, who also has just one focus for the 11-month season – the American is the most accomplished rider of the current generation.
“It’s not easy,” said Lance after claiming the yellow jersey by winning the climbing stage in the Pyrenean mountains at Pla d’Adet. “You hear comments that my face makes it look easy, but look at my face when I’m training [in the lead-up months] and you’ll see that this sort of success doesn’t come without suffering.” His success is achieved by winning when it matters most. On the way to his first stage win, at the famed l’Alpe d’Huez in stage 10, Armstrong acted like a rider who was destined to finally succumb to the efforts of the four-time runner-up, Jan Ullrich. His face was full of faux suffering and his Telekom rival swallowed the bait. The 1997 Tour champion churned his huge gears over the preceeding climbs and worked his legs into lactic overdrive. A move which allowed Armstrong to surge on the 13.9 kilometer climb which concluded stage 10. And with the cheek of a look which will be remembered as one of the year’s classic sporting moments, Armstrong raced on to what would eventually create history.
His time trial prowess is something which even surprises the man who stole one-minute from Ullrich at Chamrousse and over a minute-and-a-half two days ago in the 61km time trial on the way to Saint-Amand-Montrond. “I have never felt so good in a time trial,” he said on the day he pushed his lead on Ullrich up to six-minute 44-seconds. “Last year I was frustrated (by his lack of stage wins). When I came here this year, I decided there’d be no gifts like last year. I made the decision to not only win the Tour, but also win some stages.” He’s done both. And, as strong as Ullrich might be, he’ll have to settle for another year on the lower-rung of the podium. So too will Joseba Beloki who, despite never placing better than third in a stage, claims his second podium place in succession. These are the complete stage-race riders of the current generation. A trio who have repeated a Tour podium for only the second time in history. The final stage was never going to be much more than a parade for the eventual overall champion. But it was certainly provided another tale for the Tour’s history books. Erik Zabel pushed his advantage over Stuart O’Grady to eight points and, in so doing, don a the final green sprinter’s jersey for a record sixth time! O’Grady, however, can’t be disappointed with his Tour. He spent six days in yellow, was part of the team time trial winning squad and wore the led the sprint classification for 12 stages. But Zabel won three stages, and placed second to Jan Svorada today to force the Australian to wait another year for the prize he so desires. Other stories include the Kelme squad’s second successive victory in the team classification – largely thanks to their rider in the white jersey of Best Young Rider, Oscar Sevilla. The young Spaniard’s time was enough to place him in seventh overall. And he might be one of the riders vying to end the Armstrong dominance in July. For now, however, it seems nothing can overcome the committed American who was surrounded by a team of champions. Laurent Jalabert cannot escape mention. The former green jersey winner became the Tour’s most aggressive rider: and his efforts were rewarded with two stage wins and the polka-dot jersey as King of the Climbs. Bravo Lance! Three cheers for Erik, Laurent and Oscar. And keep on clapping for the
other 140 riders who made this July such a memorable time! |
The French Live, We Survive French workers have a legal right to five weeks paid holiday per year
On this side of the Atlantic, many of us work long, hard hours. Why, there are people working 80-hour weeks or having two and three jobs just to get by. It is ironic that in the land of plenty, we are so stressed. We work so much and hardly get time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We have no time to smell the roses. Our neighbors on the other side of the Atlantic have cut their work week to 35 hours per week. Thanks to technological progress and more streamlined production, people now work far less, but far more efficiently, than they did in the past. The reduction in the time spent working is clear from the cuts in the statutory working week, which was set at 48 hours in 1919, 40 hours in 1936, 39 hours in 1982 and 35 hours in 1998. However, other factors too have played a part in this change and these are clearer if working life is looked at as a whole. Professional careers begin much later and end much earlier and people no longer work either seven days a week or twelve months a year (workers have a legal right to five weeks paid holiday per year). If all these factors are taken into account, the actual length of working life in France has been halved since 1870, while over the same period France's GDP has risen by a factor of fourteen and hourly productivity by one of twenty. Nevertheless, conditions vary greatly from one type of work to another and, whilst salaried employees worked an average 1,630 hours per year in 1996, farmers, lorry-drivers and shop-keepers worked far more. Moving Towards the 35-hour Working WeekThe economic crisis, new ways of organizing production and wider use of machinery and systems replacing jobs changed the work world. The chronic unemployment which set in towards the end of the 1970s with the arrival of the first baby-boom generations on the employment market also played a part in altering people's attitudes to work. A number of developments took place in response to the new demands of the labor market. There was a sharp rise in the number of part-time workers, from 6% of salaried employees in the early seventies to 17% in recent times. Teleworking aka telecommuting is enabling more people to work from home. Care for the elderly, new social needs and increasing concern for the environment are also creating new jobs within the community and thus helping reduce unemployment. The shorter working week introduced in 1998 is clearly one of several possible solutions to France's unemployment problem. The Act on the reduction of working time is an innovative measure, not only because of its content, but also because of the process of joint consultation and negotiation it sets in train. It has given rise to an unprecedented dialogue between management and labor in firms and sectors which has already led to 28,000 agreements. It has achieved its objective as regards employment: 192,000 jobs have been safeguarded or created since its implementation began in June 1998. Today, 3,365,000 employees work in firms which have concluded agreements on the reduction of the working week.
LABOR FORCE France has a total labor force of some 26 million (nearly half the total population). Within this category, 19.5 million are wage and salary earners and 2.4 million, 10% of the total labor force, are job seekers (January 2000). 62% of men and 48% of women are in employment. Breakdown by type of employment (1999):
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PARIS - The City of Love
Both the capital of the nation and of the historic Île de France region, Paris is located in northern central France, 265km (165mi) south-west of Brussels, 295km (185mi) south-west of Luxembourg and 510km (315mi) west of Stuttgart. The city centre - known as Intra-Muros, or within the walls - is bisected by the River Seine. The area north of the river, the Rive Droite (Right Bank), includes the tree-lined Avenue des Champs-Élysées, running west to the Arc de Triomphe. East of the avenue is the massive Musée du Louvre, the Centre Georges Pompidou and a lively district of museums, shops, markets and restaurants. Immediately south of the Pompidou Centre on the Île de la Cité is the world-famous hunchback hangout, Notre Dame. The area south of the river, the Rive Gauche (Left Bank), is home to the city's most prominent landmark, the Eiffel Tower. To the east, in the Saint Germain de Prés and Montparnasse districts, Paris' famous academic, artistic and intellectual milieus waft in and out of focus through a haze of Gitanes smoke. Paris is at its best during the temperate spring months (March to May), with autumn coming in a close second. In winter, there are all sorts of cultural events to tempt the visitor, but school holidays can clog the streets with the little folk. August is usually hot and sticky, and it's also when many Parisians take their yearly vacations, so businesses are likely to be closed. Most museums and shops are closed on France's jours fériés (public holidays). When a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, expect to see a lot of shuttered storefronts on that Monday or Friday as well. The doors of banks are good places to check for announcements of long holiday weekends. France's national day, 14 July, commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison, the event that kicked off the French Revolution. Across the country, the holiday is celebrated with serious abandon, especially in Paris, where the day ends with a massive fireworks display and throngs of people in the streets. Public Holidays: Disclaimer: Although we've tried to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible, we accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information published on this site. We encourage you to verify any critical information with the relevant authorities before you travel. This includes information on visa requirements, health and safety, customs, and transportation. |
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Ouverture des voies sur berges aux piétons pendant
l’été 2001
Paris, le 30 juillet 2001
Philippe Avice
A Paris les problèmes de circulation automobile ont
été grandement soulagés depuis l’aménagement d’une voie rapide sur la rive
droite de la Seine dans les années 1970. La voie Georges Pompidou longe les berges, à un
mètre au dessus de l’eau, et passe sous les ponts. Elle traverse Paris d’ouest
en est en suivant la courbe du fleuve. Le paysage vu de cette route est splendide :
mieux qu’en bateau-mouche, quand tout va bien, on peut voir défiler les monuments et
les ponts à 60 km/h sans sortir de son véhicule… Mais au cœur de la ville, cette voie à grande
circulation crée une coupure infranchissable et prive les parisiens d’un rapport
ancestral au fleuve : le quai bas est traditionnellement un lieu de promenade et de
rendez-vous romantique à l’écart de l’agitation de la ville. Pour concilier la vie des piétons et des
automobilistes, un compromis est mis en œuvre depuis quelques années : la
« voie sur berges » est rendue aux promeneurs le dimanche entre 9 heures et 17
heures. Ce sont surtout les vélos et les rollers qui fréquentent la voie sur berge le
dimanche, l’asphalte lisse et plat de l’autoroute s’offre aux débutants et
aux expérimentés en toute sécurité, et dans un cadre magnifique. Le succès grandissant de cette opération a été
exploité par Bertrand Delanoë, candidat socialiste à la mairie de Paris (dont la liste
comprenait également des écologistes) dans le cadre de sa campagne municipale : il
proposait de « rendre les voies sur berge de Paris aux
piétons, vélos et rollers durant l'été ». Une fois élu, Bertrand
Delanoë (qui se présente comme un homme d’honneur qui tient ses engagements) a
ordonné l’interdiction de circuler aux véhicules pour les voies sur berge, du 15
juillet au 15 août, de la Concorde au pont d'Austerlitz. Au lendemain de la fête
nationale, la mairie lance l’opération « Sur la rive Droite de la Seine du 15
juillet au 15 août, c’est tous les jours dimanche ». Faute d’une campagne
d’information suffisante, l’opération débute par un échec imprévu : des
embouteillages monstres apparaissent dans tout de Paris, la circulation aux abords de la
Seine est complètement bloquée pendant des heures, des heures et des jours, tandis que
trois ou quatre vélos sont vus sur les voies sur berge. Le mauvais temps aidant, les
premiers jours de l’opération sont un fiasco, un tollé, un scandale….
Immédiatement raillé par les médias. Pendant une semaine, le
nouveau maire de Paris hésite à maintenir la fermeture des voies sur berge. « Je
me suis trompé » déclare-t-il et fait son mea culpa concernant la fermeture
mensuelle d'une partie des voies sur berge. Mais finalement après plus d’une
semaine, le beau temps revient ; le nombre de voitures dans la capitale diminue avec
la période de vacances et les embouteillages se résorbent. Grâce au battage
médiatique, les voies sur berges se peuplent jour après jour jusqu’à connaître un
franc succès à la fin de juillet : cet été pour la première fois depuis des
années, les parisiens peuvent s’amuser au bord de l’eau, le cadre de vie a pris
le pas sur l’automobile, la nouvelle municipalité impose ses choix et applique son
programme : les parisiens sont rassurés par ce type d’actions.
« C’est pas pour rien qu’on a voté Delanoë ». |
Nightlife: There
are several thousand different ways to get your groove on in this city, and luckily, a
couple of them are legal. One of the best
ways to find out is to buy a Pariscope for three francs at a newsstand, or save a
franc and buy an Officiel du Spectacle (the latter does not have the ‘Time
Out’ section in the back). Generally two
hundred and a bit pages long, they’ve got just about everything going on anywhere in
and around Paris. Give yourself plenty of
time to figure out how to use it and how to find what you want. There is also a concert listing called Lylo,
but you'll have to scout them out. You're
going to hear a lot about clubs and bars here, because it's AUP and it's Paris and you
didn't really come all this way to study that much did you?
As for clubs, the glamour and wanna-be crowd will
need VIP on the Champs-Elysées (look for the herd of people waiting to get inside and the
120 franc drink prices - the music is great, the old men in suits aren't), Cabaret (rue
Pierre Charron, just off the Champs - more of the same, the drinks are cheaper and the men
are younger - but notice I didn't say young), and Les Bains in St. Denis (rue du Bourg
l'Abbé - the most down to earth of the three, it's still in the upper reaches of the
troposphere). Bars you'll be looking for are
Man Ray, Barfly, and Buddha Bar. If you
decide you can't spend enough money at any of these places, head for the nearest
restaurant/bar with the word 'Costes' written on it, and they'll be happy to test just how
serious you are about your expenditures. Guys,
your best bet is to either go with a regular, reserve a table, or get some good looking
female company, else you risk being turned away from just about any establishment around. Even karaoke bars.
Really. And sometimes even the good
looking company won't help. A doorman may
tell you that the girls can go in but you can't. Welcome
to Paris. For those seeking the feel of a sweaty night in Manchester, the Long Hop (M° Maubert-Mutualité) or the Oz Bar (M° Châtelet) are for you. Dark, hot, and cramped, they are the equivalent of the Batcave with liquor and music. Chesterfields (rue La Boétie) and the Firkin (rue de Berri, both M° Franklin D. Roosevelt), a tad brighter and with less of that humid-like-the-inside-of-one's-mouth feel, may be more accommodating. For those in between, looking for some casual cool, you
are also well served. Check the Marais (M°
St. Paul, rue Vielle du Temple, Trésor, Lizard Lounge), M° Mabillon/St. Michel (Café
Mabillon, rue de Buci and surrounds, Café Richard), and the 16th. Salsa is dished out at Monte Cristo and Latina
Café (Champs-Elysées, M° Franklin Roosevelt) and Barrio Latino (M° Bastille). If
you want to hang out with French people, Bastille, République, and rue Oberkampf in the
20th (between M° Parmetier and M° Ménilmontant, Cafés Charbonne and Cithéa) are for
you. The popular places are quite small and crowded, the bars especially, because
they're packed with chairs and tables (and people), but the more quiet places have ample
space to move. The only question is whether
you'll want to hang out with the, how shall I say, "charming," regulars. For
any Goths, the scene is just as black, smoky, and rubber clad as it is in any other
civilized country. It's in French too. But I can't
help you out with this one. The nature of the
beast is: you know where to find it. Or you
don't. Source: --The Planet (the AUP Student Newspaper) |
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Lance’s
hat-trick win came through consistency. This year, however, it was also a stage-winning
blitz – two time trials and two mountain-top victories – which confirmed the
dominance of the rider who, in his own words, wants to be remembered as a cancer survivor.
He
is now the first American to claim three successive Tour wins – and only the sixth
rider in history to achieve this feat. 
A few years ago, while I was still
living in Paris, my good friend Laurent once told me "Nous, nous vivons. Vous,
vous survivez." I laughed at him then, but now years later, I realized that he
was right. The French sure live and it would seem that we survive. We live in a system
where we are forced to live, eat and breathe mullah. It seems that we are forever running
after Ben Franklin. 
In France, working conditions are negotiated between employers and employees in each
sector and set by state-backed collective-bargaining agreements. In addition, since 1982,
a series of laws and ordinances has strengthened the institutions representing employees
and the role of trade unions and established a right to negotiation. Trade union
membership, which is still very high in countries like Germany and Scandinavia, is
declining in France, despite long-established traditions. It currently stands at
approximately 10% (compared to 81% in Sweden) and most of the major trade unions (CGT,
CFDT and FO being the most significant) have lost between a quarter and over half of their
membership during the last twenty years. Labor relations today are less confrontational
than in the past.
PARIS: The capital and gem in France's tourist crown, Paris is
a glutton for superlatives and travel clichés. As a result, visitors often arrive all
moist and runny with giddy expectations of grand vistas and romance along the Seine, of
landscapes painted on bus-sized canvases, of phenomenally haughty people, of pick-an-ist
types in cafés monologuing on the use of garlic or the finer points of Jerry Lewis. True,
you can usually find whatever you expect or hope to discover. But an equally effective way
of enjoying your stay in the city is to leave your expectations in the hotel, wander
aimlessly around the backstreets and avenues, and just see what you see. 
p
you can sense it happening.
