Paris at Night by Bike

When I left you last post, I was chilling by the Eiffel Tower, and listening to Phoenix while waiting for my night time bike tour of Paris.

My blogging pal/traveler extraordinaire AlieMalie recommended that I do a bike tour of Paris using Fat Tire Bike Tours. Now, I have biked a bit in Paris on my own using the Velib' system, but biking any distance through Paris is a little bit intimidating for me because I'd have to spend a lot of time consulting a bike map, and the terrifying traffic (despite the excellent system of bike paths). So, I decided that a tour would be the perfect for me to feel safe biking through Paris, and to leave the planning up to someone else. I opted for the night tour, since it covered a longer distance, and included a cruise on the Seine complete with wine.

It worked out perfectly since Becca had work commitments on Wednesday night, and the bike tour would give me something fun to do.

All of the other people on that night's tour were American other than me. There was a family with three teenage boys from Florida, a trio of Texan teachers, two students from NYC, a Texan studying in Barcelona on a mini-trip to Paris, and a couple from Boston. As we started off, past the Eiffel Tour, one girl's chain fell off her bike, but that left time for an excellent photo op. Here is me and my bike. I bought my new coat especially for Paris. I should have taken off my reflective vest for the photo... you'll see I got better at that as the tour progressed.


We biked past this building at dusk. I think it's Les Invalides, which now houses the Army Museum and Napoleon's tomb, but I could be wrong. Either way it was beautiful.


We biked for a good distance through some traffic all the way to Notre Dame. I was so glad I was doing this as part of a group... It would take some real balls for me to do this on my own. I'm way too timid to even bike in Toronto traffic. During some left turns, all I could do was mutter "holy shit" under my breath. It was exhilarating.

When we got to Notre Dame we stopped on one of the bridges, and our guide explained to us the locks on the bridge. I'd never noticed them before during my other visits to Paris, but maybe I was just crossing the wrong bridges. Anyway, couples in love place the locks on the bridge, then throw the keys into the Seine as a sign of their commitment. There were a few combination locks on the bridge too. People, a combination lock is a deal-breaker, no?


The back of Notre Dame at night. Note the flying buttresses.


The Hôtel de Ville (city hall).


We then stopped for some ice cream at a really yummy place by Notre Dame. I had left my money in my bag at the office, but the nice couple from Boston were nice enough to lend me some. Yay for tour camaraderie.

We headed in the direction of the Louvre. We crossed the pedestrian bridge, the Pont des Arts, that links the Institut de France to the central square of the Louvre.

Here's the gorgeous Institut de France.


Here's a view of the Louvre from the Pont des Arts. It's such a massive building.


From there, we biked to the Pyramid at the entrance of the Louvre.


From there, we biked along streets by the Seine to the docks where we'd meet our boat for our cruise of the Seine. I snapped this picture of my fellow bikers ahead of me, just to capture the sense of what it was like to be following them along the night time streets of Paris.


As we waited for our boat to leave the harbour, I snapped this picture, which I think is my favourite of the entire trip.


The cruise along the Seine was cold, but lots of fun. The boat was fairly large and rather full that evening. There were lots of loud teenagers on the boat (spring break tours, perhaps?) but they just hooted and hollered as we passed underneath bridges. This just made me laugh, because we went under lots of bridges, and you'd think they'd get bored of it, but nope. In addition, I loved watching Parisians along the Seine. There were lots of groups of people sitting by the river drinking wine, which naturally gave me an idea for something to do on my last night in Paris.

I only took a few pictures during the cruise. I think it's because I was relaxing, drinking wine, and chatting with my fellow bikers. I was flattered because one of the Floridian teenagers in my group asked me if I was a student, and I had to admit that no, I was a teacher.

Here's the clock of the Musee de Orsay. The building used to be a train station, but now is a great Art Gallery with lots of Impressionist art work. I visited there my first time in Paris, and it's excellent.


Here's a fuzzy picture of Notre Dame taken from the boat.


After the cruise, we biked back to our starting point but took some time to take some last pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night.




And that was my night bike tour of Paris. It was a great time. I told Becca T that she must do it when her sister visits her. If you ever visit Paris, I suggest you do this tour if you enjoy biking. Thanks for the tip AlieMalie!

My next Paris post will be of my little train trip out of Paris to see the Gothic cathedral at Chartres.