Paris for Geographers

I'd meant to post from Paris last week, but the trip was busier than I had expected. We nearly missed our connection in Philadelphia, and we would have lost a day of our trip had we not sprinted, fully loaded, down the concourse between gates. We also had a lost passport scare, but fortunately the lady who sells drinks outside of Sacré-Cœur is a saint. She found our passports on the pavement outside the church and held onto them until we came looking the next day. She even gave my frazzled wife a cup of tea at no charge. Nor would she accept a reward, which we gladly offered, since replacing the passports at the embassy would have been très cher. We arrived back in the States after 26 hours of travel just in time to get caught in this weekend's big snowstorm.  Because the roads were so bad, we ended up spending Saturday night in a hotel, even though we were only about 20 miles from home.

Although we spent most of the week visiting the standard tourist spots in Paris for the benefit of the kids, I did manage to track down a few less mainstream attractions for globe-trotting geographers.

Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie

When you've seen enough statues of naked people at the Louvre, take the Metro out to the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, a terrific science museum with an exceptionally good wing just for the little ones, the Cité des Enfants. We'd intended to stay for just a few hours, but we ended up spending most of the day there.

The escalators in the Main Hall
at Cité des Sciences. 

The museum is housed in a huge four-story building, three floors of which are dedicated to exhibits. Most of the exhibits are hands-on, which makes it great for kids, and many of the descriptions are in both French and English. Besides the usual gift store and museum cafes, Cité des Sciences also boasts an enormous mirrored sphere called La Géode, which, in addition to serving as an IMAX and 3D theater, looks extremely cool. For an additional fee, you can tour a decommissioned French submarine, the Argonaute (S636).

La Géode.

La Géode.

  

A display from the exhibition
"The Great Story of the Universe."

  

Like most museums, Cité des Sciences has both permanent and temporary exhibitions. As a geographer, I immediately gravitated (no pun intended) toward "Earthwatch: The Satellite Revolution." Like all the exhibits in the museum, "Earthwatch" is slick and well-done, with a large, rotating projection globe and a series of interactive flat-panel displays that allow you to test your knowledge of remotely-sensed images against up to three other players.

The Innovations Gallery also tips its hat to the spatial sciences with a display entitled, "The Geography of Innovation," which maps out global centers of excellence in industrial innovation. Apparently the French government, in an attempt to encourage economic progress, has recognized "competitiveness hubs," which bring together business, industry, and research institutions within specific geographic regions. Each region focuses on developing its own economic niches: the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur center, for example, specializes in software and complex systems, while Rhône-Alpes seeks to excel in nanotechnology and virology.

The initiative is part of a larger European effort to encourage "centres of competitiveness," which, in addition to spurring innovation, will likely create what economic geographers call "agglomeration economies" – the savings that accrue when certain industries locate near each other in order to share pools of equipment, transportation facilities, labor, and other specialized requirements. Agglomeration economies are particularly important in the formation and continuation of technopoles (planned centers of high-tech industries), such as California's Silicon Valley and North Carolina's Research Triangle.

The Geography of Innovation.

Global centers of innovation.

French "competitiveness hubs."

RATP Store

If you've been to Paris before, you've probably ridden the Metro. But did you leave with your very own officially licensed Paris Metro and Bus souvenir items by which you can remember the experience? I thought not.

We discovered a cool little Metro souvenir store while walking through the Châtelet – Les Halles station one evening. Unfortunately the shop was closed, but my wife went back by herself later and, I have to admit, went a little crazy. We now have a hard cover copy of Mark Ovenden's Metro Maps of the World, a set of espresso cups with the Paris Metro map on them, a Paris Metro mouse pad, Paris Metro stationary and envelopes, a large cardstock map of the rail line, a decorative plate memorializing one of the Metro's famous Art Deco entrances, and an eye-glass microfiber cleaning cloth with a diagram of the Metro on it. I realize, however, that I have very little to complain about – I'd much rather my wife go crazy in a map store than in a shoe or handbag shop.

You can order your own official Paris Metro products from their website at http://www.souvenirs-metro.fr/.

Espace IGN

Unfortunately I was in the area too late in the day to visit, but the Institut Geographique National has a store called Espace IGN just a block off the Champs Elysees at 107 rue de la Boétie. Supposedly it's a map lover's paradise, but I guess I'll have to wait until next time to confirm.