This is an odd question i know,but I am taking my 15 year old to Europe in the middle of his rowing season and if we could find a gym in our travels he would be happy!
An erg is a stationary rowing machine...
We will be in London,venice,florence, rome and paris. If anyone has found good indoor fitness rooms that are available to the public i would really love to hear about them.We are staying in less expensive apartments so won't have the luxury of the fitness centers in fancy hotels.
Thanks!!

An erg is also a unit of energy.

There used to be a cartoon in the Physics building showing a bug of some kind, which was labeled "cm."

Next to it was the same kind of bug, this one lying on its back with its legs twitching and Xs on its eyes. This was labeled "erg."

It was a "dyne-centimeter," you see.

A little bit of Physicist humor there.

Did you hear the one about, "Two quarks walk into a bar...."

Is there some kind of association of international rowing clubs? Maybe a university crew team would allow him use their ERG?

I had a friend that was a PhD in physics and he used to have this one joke that the punchline was "Imagine a spherical cow of uniform density..." I don't remember the set up, but it was a knee slapper.

Joan, ask the front desk staff or concierge in the hotels where you will be staying. They are a wealth of information. You might also check with local schools or universities to see if they would let your son use their gyms. Then again, regular gyms probably let someone pay a fee to use their facilities for a day.

Never shake hands with a left-handed alien.

Had to do with the "right hand" rule in electromagnetism + antimatter theory.

You do crossword puzzles too, smueller?

I wish I could help - we are going to be in Paris for 5 weeks this summer and my daughter just started rowing this past fall and would like to find a place to erg or actually get on the water. If you hear of anything please let me know. Have a great trip.

There's plenty of rowing in London. Check with some of the rowing clubs. They might let him practice with them. In Venice, the only fitness clubs I know of are at the bigger hotels. The San Clemente Palace has one.

Thanks for the help.
I will try the schools. We are not staying in big hotels but will try to speak to a concierge anyways!
Traveling with teenagers...rewarding but trying.

Many of the gyms in London have ergs- or concept II rowers. I think you'll needs to adapt to the lack of machines and a busy schedule. Can he sort out a good fitness alternative for his travel time? Running, weights, hotel stairs??? Hill work outs for the legs? Sprints in the parks? Not the same, but swimming will give him great a great cardio work out and keep the upper body limber.
Sometimes a change of routine is GREAT for long term training.

Why can't he actually row? There are plenty of rivers and lakes around, it doesn't have to be a scull, any old rowboat will do, Jerome K Jerome did it, I've done it. And he can do chin-ups at kids playgrounds and push-ups and burpees in your hotel room to top up, and get a room on the tenth floor and eschew the lift, and carry Mum up for that extra challenge, and in Paris there's this Eiffel thing with steps. Where is the problem?

Harzer

I heard something about Lot airlines requiring all Poles to sit on the left hand side of the plane to ensure stability.

Check out this site for Concept 2 which makes the rowing machines. I am sure that they know of health clubs or rowing clubs in Europe that would have their rowing machines.

http://www.concept2.com/05/default.asp

I thought it was a measurement unit of force. Maybe "Erg" is just the brand name of some machine and the name is meant to evoke images of power.