Riding Paris. 34 Days in Europe, Day 04




It was our fourth day in Paris but seemed that we were there for weeks. Since we woke up in the exercise mood, we decided to take a bike at the Velib Station (right next to the apartment) and ride without any specific destination in mind. Velib is a public bicycle sharing system with more than 1,000 bike stations around the city. You can take a bike in one of the station and return it in any other one. And the price is really good! 



I liked the way that the Chicago Tribune described Paris A parade of bicyclists races alongside rush-hour traffic. As the bikers come to a turn, they swing in front of a car that swerves to keep from slamming into them. It illustrates how two-wheelers and the combustion engine live and let live in Paris”. For the first time you ride a bike in Paris you get so scared of the speedy cars running in the streets without giving a damn to you. After you realized the complexity of the traffic, you just go faster and have fun. The bike cycling road is really thin and it crosses the whole city. Easy or not, scary or not, hello, you have to do it! 


We took the bikes and rode rode rode for hours. We first cross La Seine river in direction of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.  It was Saturday so the streets were full of people walking and artists singing, painting and dancing. A little hard to ride between all those activities going on. We saw again the beauty of the Notre Dame, the cute bridges that connect the two sides of the city, the old buildings, the charming little streets, and the stylish people walking around. We kept our journey in direction of Jardin du Luxembourg –  the most beautiful garden in the city, in my opinion. 


When you first get into the park you feel a fresh energy, healthy people running, running, running, and greens everywhere. We were cycling, singing, happy… until the guard asked us to get out of the park because we couldn’t ride bikes there. We could not even ride them until the exit door. Nice! Heads down, we took our way out to the exit. No Luxembourg for us anymore.

We continued riding the bikes to the Pantheon, for another tourist stop, picture and that’s it. We kept our exercise until home. 



The best thing about riding bikes in any city, and particularly in Paris, is you get to know  the place better than hiding on the subways or inside the dirty cabs. Great experience!


Our lunch were with our friends at Place Santa Catarina, really cute. Later on we walked to Quartier Latin to see all the shops, cute cafes and popular streets. Hot spots there: Rue de Buci, Bd Saint Germain and Cafe Les Deux Magot.  Paris on summer can get really hot, and this day we experienced a little of this warm weather. Because of the temperature we started to be tired, thirst, inpatient…time for dessert.

 
We stopped and the famous Pierre Hermé and fought the line to indulge in sweets. They are famous for the macarons and the mille-feuilles (that were not available anymore – sad face ). We got our special package and ran to eat our dessert in the park in front of Saint-Sulpice church.  

 



A long walk to the Le Bon Marche store were the solution to lose all the extra kilos. No dinner for us. 



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