We’re excited this morning since we get to do our best imitation of Lance Armstrong. Like Florence, we’re going to spend a few hours doing a bike tour in Paris this morning to see a different side of the city and get a more intimate feel than what the Louvre and Eiffel can offer. We are not disappointed.
Our morning starts off with a dash through the Metro to get to Notre Dame (where the meeting place is). Getting there right after 10am, we find our guides Paul and Christian, but Les and I are apparently late and the group has already left. Hmm, typical. None worse for the wear, they graciously take us to their bike area where we meet with the rest of the group. Turns out Paul and Christian are the actual owners of Bike About Tours in Paris, and through the past 4 years of hard work, have climbed up to the top 3 activities on TripAdvisor with their unique tour around Paris (none of the touristy places, but the backside view from a local perspective, even though they hail from outside of France originally). And better news yet, Paul decides to split the larger group and take only a few of us (incl. Les and I) for a couple’s only ride. Nice, this is going to be good.
A quick lap with our new bikes and we are off. Les is the only one with a kiddie helmet on, but better safe than sorry. I guess. Now I look like I’m taking my daughter out on vacation. Paris is actually a very bike-friendly city, so we find really well laid out bike lanes out on the roads. Cars are generally cautious of bikers, but aren’t afraid to play chicken once a while. Just be sure to do the wobbly handle bar trick, and they’ll back off.
The tour actually gets pretty interesting; here are a couple of highlights:
• Notre Dame island is the center of the city; during WWII, the Germans fought the Resistance for the Police station control. A professor from the University stole chemicals from his lab to make Molotov cocktail to burn the tanks. Bullet holes from that battle still are visible on some buildings.
• Behind a lot of the major streets lie hidden secret alcoves and gardens from the old Paris city. Looks like Harry Potter bought his wands from the stores here.
• There’s a well-known Paris artist who covertly puts up his artwork around the city in hard-to-reach, but visible areas. His motif is using characters from 80’s video games and pop culture, using colored mosaic tiles. We find a few during our ride, but there are over 1500. He’s already spread to other cities around the world, including Melbourne and London, and has even published a book.
• There’s a rodent extermination shop that displays its vermin catches. Eww. There was a stuffed rat the size of a beaver on display. I think it was actually a beaver, but whatever. It’s also located next to a bakery. It’s also the shop featured in Ratatouille.
• The term “gargling” (as in gargling mouthwash) comes from gargoyle statues that line the roofs of old castles. They spout rainwater from their mouths during the rain; so there you go.
• Jim Morrison (from the Doors) is buried at some Paris cemetery and under guard 12 hours a day from vandals.
• It costs unions about 1 Mil Euro to hold a strike. It seems the revolution at the Bastille back in 1839 still inspires the normal citizen to uprise on occasion. The police have been quelling the protests in part by putting guards at high schools. Apparently, high schoolers are a huge part of the protestors. And you thought US kids didn’t like going to school.
• The oldest building in Paris is a swinger’s club.
• On top of Notre Dame, there are 13 statues of the apostles, and 1 unknown figure at the top of the steeple. Turns out, it’s the architect, who apparently loves to be the center of attention.
• It’s very difficult for new entrepreneurs to get started in Paris, in terms of getting the paperwork and approvals done by the city officials. That, combined with a penchant for the average Parisian to not like to work, however, it makes for a very ripe environment for business opportunities. No competition!
4.5 hours later, we get back to the starting point. Whew! What’s even crazier is that our tour was supposed to be only for 3 hours! I guess our guide really enjoyed our company, so it was definitely a day worth spending. I think Les actually likes the city now! We highly recommend it for whoever goes to Paris.
Being late in the afternoon at this point, our planned trip to Versailles is canceled. After a quick stop inside Notre Dame, we decide to check out the city mosque down in the lower part of the city. Paul mentioned it has a great tea garden there, so since we’ve never been in a mosque before, it would be a great excuse to check it out. We’re not sure what to expect, since recent events have lead to a sort-of-tense perspective of Islam, but interestingly enough, it was very different from what we thought it would be like, in a good way. It’s actually very beautiful inside, sort of like the cities in Prince of Persia, if you’ve played the game. Very peaceful and everyone in there seems to be just like normal, everyday people. Very friendly and considerate. Given the terrorist threat levels in Europe the past few weeks, I would have figured there would be a precarious tension with the people around there, especially with Americans. But it was almost exactly opposite; tourists having a nice afternoon tea, gossiping and chatting it up like back home at Peet’s coffee. It was certainly a breath of fresh air for us to see and experience.
On the way home, we stop by the Museum of Natural History. Same ol’ zoo stuff; you know, wallaby here, mountain goat there. Another steak tartare dinner, and back to the tellie. Come to think of it, we’re in our 3rd night here, and tonight was our first nice dinner. One more day in Paris tomorrow, and we’re starting it off with the Photo Tour (rated #1 on TripAdvisor!).
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