Last day in Paris

May 11, 2019

on our bikes

A rather slow start to our morning. We will need to greatly improve our start times if we are to complete this planned trip. Time change is still affecting our sleep patterns. But, there really was not much urgency as it was raining fairly solidly in Paris today. This gave us an opportunity to continue our organizing before departure tomorrow. No missing pieces discovered yet! This may be a first.

One issue to resolve is where to leave the suitcases that we pack our bikes in. This is one detail that must be worked out for all our trips. It has previously been solved several ways and fortunately our Airbnb hosts have come to our rescue. Régis and Cristelle have graciously agreed to store them for us while we are away. We will leave them in our cosy studio and they will pick them up and take them to their house. How great is that!

With the final assembly of the bikes complete, it was time to take them for their maiden voyage. As our tour formula has evolved, a test ride usually takes place on the third and last day of our first stay. Today we will see Paris by bike. A break in the weather seemed immanent and we launched out the door. We barely made one block before the skies opened, forcing us to take cover under a restaurant awning. A perfect opportunity to stay dry and at the same time enjoy a coffee. The cost of a cappuccino is not under consideration today.

Safe and dry drinking coffee and watching the down pour. Not the best start to our cycle day in Paris.

The skies began to clear and we again set off again making a grand total of about 200 metres when Scott noticed an SFR storefront. SFR is the second largest cellphone service provider in France. We have been researching prepaid sim cards for use while we are in France and SFR offers some interesting alternatives to Orange, the largest French provider. We settled on a very basic text and phone service that is very reasonable for infrequent use if a data plan is not required. SFR had a plan with data but it is a bit more expensive. We plan on using the Wifi at our evening stays and thought this no frills option may work for us - 10 euros for a 5 euro prepaid service. Good for 30 days and about 50 texts or calls and can be easily topped up. We will see.

After a few minor cable adjustments and bike seat settings, we were smoothly making our way to d'Austerlitz station where we will be boarding the train for Bordeaux tomorrow. The roads were busy this Saturday and we were riding in unfamilar territory so we really needed to keep our wits about us. We used the Mapsme app to keep us on track as we plodded along. This reconnaissance ride will make the trip move more quickly on Sunday.

When we arrived at the station we went to see if bikes need a separate ticket or reservation for travel. Pat waited patiently in a ticketing line but it moved slowly and we gave up after 20 minutes. Exploring the station we found an information desk with no line up at all. We left with the understanding that bikes are of no issue. Let's hope so as the SNCF train website is not clear on bike storage on the route to Bordeaux. We decided we could always fold them if needed. An advantage for Bike Fridays!

We carried on across the Seine looking for bike paths to ride along this majestic river. Many police vans with sirens blaring passed by. We thought that there must be a riot going on on the Champs-Élysées because it is Saturday and therefore a yellow vest protest day. No one seemed to pay any real attention to all the sirens - must now be standard business here. A bit disconcerting for us, however! We did see a police presence in several locations during the day but no news of arrests. The morning rain likely dampened the weekly event.

Police vans in Paris racing around in convoys with sirens blaring gives one the impression that something bad must be happenning somewhere.

Our ride was a slow crawl along the river with a mix of pedestrians as we navigated up and down stairways and through parks and other key Paris landmarks. The sun popped out back and forth from the clouds and we enjoyed our first few hours of riding. We returned home with a simple meal and a bottle of red wine for dinner. The final packing of the panniers is completed and tomorrow we will be on our way .......early! The train for Bordeaux departs at 08:57 hours precisely.

Jardin des Tuileries looks inviting as the sun appears.

Looks like an Effiel tower selfie but Scott took this one.

Pont Alexandre III is an amazingly ornate structure with gilt-bronze statues at each end.

Clouds are building on the horizon and we thought we might get wet. It did start to rain about one km from our apartment. And the steel structure was built for the World's Fair of 1889.

Today's ride: 20 km (12 miles)
Total: 20 km (12 miles)

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