City of Love, Paris

Notre Dame in Paris

The second day was the most interesting. During our walk in the city the day before, we notice there were many bicycle paths and also plenty of people cycling. We also saw alot of bicycle stands every few hundred metres that we walked. Apparently, you could rent bicycles to get around the city and the map given by our hotel shows all the stations you can pick up or drop off a bike. This is the Velib system and it is a cheap and great way to get around (but I was also nervous as I cannot recall when the last time I rode a bicycle). It only cost 1 Euro per day per bike, and if each of your journey is less than 30 mins, then it is free. Otherwise, it is another Euro. Every tourist attraction would have a Velib station, so that made it very convenient.

So off I went wobbling on my bicycle with Bern leading the way. The first stop was the Notre Dame. Be prepared for the crowd out the front. It was a beautiful church but I did not see any hunchbacks.

Hotel Dieu

This photo was taken from the first level of the Eiffel. Do you see the church on top of the hill? That is Sacre Couer, our next destination after the Notre Dame. I am trying to illustrate how far we actually went on our bicycles. This was unbeknown to me prior to starting out, or I might never have agreed.

Initially, I was pretty happy as I was actually doing OK. At that stage, no falls -YET- and did not crash into any pedestrians.  But at the end of the day, I had a mini tumble and I left behind a souvenir in Paris- some flesh from my ankle on some pavement. Plus I also had a few angry bruises the next day.

Anyway, as we got closer to the Sacre Couer, we got hungry. Like the day before, We had a baguette, and of course, dessert for lunch.

We could not ride to the top and had to walk the rest of the way. I was actually using alot of muscles that I never knew existed. If I thought I was tired then, the next day was even worse (The scrape and bruises did not help either! Don't worry Mum, I'm fine).

Steep roads ahead...

Steps??? And more steps!??

Almost there.... more steps! (Note on left bottom corner of photo)

Finally there! Was it worth it.... I guess so.

The day was getting warmer by the minute and we were spending alot of money rehydrating ourselves. So we decided to make Arch de Triomphe our last stop. The down side with the bicycle system was that occasional when you get to a station, there may not be any bikes available, so you had to walk to the next station. Anyway when we finally found ourselves a couple of bicycles (third time lucky), we continued our journey. We stumbled across the Moulin Rouge along the way...

A random fact: almost all the performers at the MR are Aussie imports.

The Arch.... Again, beware of mass crowd

Underneath the Arch

It was a pretty productive day.... The only thing left to worry about was dinner. Rue Cler is a pretty famous street in Paris for outdoor dining and fresh fruit and vegie markets. And since it is only a few minutes by cycling, we decided to go to Rue Cler for dinner.

Rue Cler

While deciding where to eat, a moving  jazz band (sponsored by Ricard -a rum/brandy company, I think) appeared from nowhere and serenaded restaurant patrons. We quickly picked a restaurant- and of all things- we both felt like having Japonois! (Japanese in French). The vibe that night was pretty cool...

I love sushi, and after all the rich meals we have had in the last couple of days, this was a welcoming sight. Finally, some rice. Bern was reaching for it even before I could take a picture....

We also had some skewers and the one furthest to the right was grilled beef with cheese. An interesting combination and twist that actually worked well. This Japanese place was called Oniwa, in case you feel like Jap when you are in Paris. We were glad we were there early as the place packed out with locals pretty quickly.

Me on my bicycle, riding back to the hotel as the sun sets. What a tough day it has been in the office....