Paris by Bike

Bonjour,

I'm currently still hiding from the light of day in my room, recovering from last night! Yesterday during the day a friend and I decided to brave the Parisian roads by hiring bikes and seeing the city from a different point of view. We used the Velib - Paris bike hire through which you are free to pick up and drop off your bike (picking up a different one if you choose, although the bikes are all the same and come with adjustable seats). The beauty of the Velib is that it costs one euro 70 for the day (or 19 euros for an annual subscription!) and that there's no hassle of carrying a bike on the train etc. You can pick up and leave your bike as you please.

The catch, and of course there is a catch, is that the first 30 minutes of you unlocking a bike are free, but thereafter it will cost you one euro per half an hour. So it becomes somewhat of a race against time to find the next Velib stand. Fortunately, these stands are frequent and multiple and can be found at all the big tourist spots if you make sure to look down little side streets. Then you lock your bike back in, re-enter your secret code and pick another one up for the next 30 minutes, and so on. Problems occur when bike stands are full and you have to find the nearest one, although paying the extra euro isn't a big deal but can be quite expensive if you lose track of time. Another thing we quickly realised is to check your bike thoroughly before you unlock it - for the most part the bikes were in impressively good condition but some stands (in particular by the Jardin des Plantes) were full of rubbish bikes. Lesson learnt!

Travelling on Paris' main roads was frightening but after a short time it was fun, and we even survived Rue de Rivoli at rush hour. The feeling of cycling along the Seine with the Eiffel Tower and Paris' beautiful bridges to our right, avoiding the crowded pavements and passing traffic jams was exhilirating and we couldn't help feeling oh so smug and city.

We made sure to plan a rough route of where we wanted to go beforehand, starting at Ecole Militaire and winding up at Chatelet. We passed and stopped off at the Les Invalides, Pont Alexandre III, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Jardin des Plantes (on the way finding enchanting little markets we would normally miss by metro), the Mosquee de Paris and Hotel de Ville. Chatelet wasn't such a great place to bike ride in - my advice would be to stick to the South of the river.

After a long day, we proceeded to go back to my friend's place in Les Sablons and drink a lovely bottle of Muscat and have dinner, before heading back to the Marais to go for drinks in a bar called Stolly's. The bar was simple enough but the company was as always perfect and it was a fun night. I've come to realise that I really enjoy the night life of Parisian bars - they normally stay open to about 5am and the atmosphere is usually chatty, friendly and buzzing.

The Velib was a great experience and if you're visiting the city I insist you give it a go - anyone can buy the one day or seven day ticket at the many Velib stands you will easily find. It's so much more fun than the dirty, smelly, overcrowded metro during the summer!

A bientot xxx