16.11.26 / Beneath Rue de Turbigo / I recorded several metro and RER (city express train) journeys whilst in Paris / I think this one’s my favourite, not because it represents my experience, but because it sounds the least like my typical voyage, and as such I can listen to it without experiencing fatigue /

During my time in Paris I predict that I spent more than a hundred hours travelling by rail / It was the most convenient way for me to reach the city centre and took approximately thirty-five minutes to get to the metro metropolis of Chatlet Les-Halles, which takes seven hundred and fifty thousand travellers per day / The trains were always busy and at rush hours completely crammed / It was here that you would see the casualties of Paris, the faces of the worn out and defeated; those who work in Paris but spend hours each day commuting in stressful conditions, because house prices in the city are too high / It was easy to see how the travelling would wear you out / The specific noises of my line are still engrained in my mind: the specific beeps and clunks, the rattle of the carriages and the alarms of the door / I was able to recite the “please mind the gap” phrase in French before I could explain exactly what it meant /

In this recording I enjoyed sitting on a bench in a much quieter than normal metro station / You are able to clearly discern the zipping noise of the rails, warning of an incoming train / Even the trains themselves sounded calm and quiet / The doors flick open, slightly out of time with one another / For me the older trains feel more playful and human than the fully automated modern lines / They have some character and I think that it lives in the sounds too / The train pulls away, leaving a relaxing sense of space / After a few minutes a train pulls in on the other side and like clockwork shoots off again / Soon after, another train reaches me. I stand up and step inside the carriage, holding the central bar / The doors close behind me and carry us away / The ambience is calm and life feels a long way away from the commuting stress of the coming Monday //

All recordings and Photos by Ben Gale See the PDF: https://issuu.com/bivouacrecording/docs/60_minute_cities-_paris-_ben_gale

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