A ride through the old and the new. The old: beautiful Paris – overflowing with memories of the last 26 years. Bathed in warmth and sun, I cycled through memory lane. The new: Following the Seine upstream I discovered the meandering valley, and met my lovely Warmshowers hosts – Nicole and Claude – at their house in the rolling hills of wheat.
Yesterday evening the streets of Paris was alive with music. Live music and people everywhere through the city, enjoying the warm, long evening. This morning, most people were still at home, and the city was quiet. I could meander through memory lane in peace, ticking off all the tourist sites.
Le Louvre
The Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
And, a tour of Paris is not complete without passing Rue Thibaut in the 14th arrondissement where my friends Steve and Carol used to live.
Rue Thibaut
Today was the anniversary of the cool public bicycle rental system velib.paris.fr. A part of the Champs-Élysées was cordoned off, and people were cycling circuits with their Velib bikes. These bikes are distributed at stations everywhere throughout the city. You can take one, cycle anywhere in the city, and leave it there – all for a very small fee. The cycling infrastructure has improved dramatically in the last years. There are many separated bike paths, and lots of Velibs. 🙂 A good example of a sustainable city activity! (I’ll post some photos and videos when I have wifi..)
My route followed the Seine out of Paris. It is really a place where Parisians come on the weekend, and no wonder. It is beautiful – although – if you can swim, it can be busy.. 🙂
Swimming in the Seine
La Seine
What a welcome I have received from Nicole and Claude from warmshowers.org. They have a beautiful house in amongst the rolling fields of wheat. Nicole cooked a great lasagne which we had outside in the warm evening as the sun went down. I thanks them very much for their hospitality!!!
My lovely hosts
arctic-cycler.com 
Hi Matthew
In Rue Thibaut zijn we in 1997 nog met zijn drieën geweest!
Dit keer zijn we niet in Parijs (vorig jaar misten we elkaar net…)
Aletta en ik zijn ons jaarlijkse tripje ook aan het plannen, al wordt dat zeker niet zo ver!
Ik hoop dat je lekker fietster hebt vandaag.
Liefs van ons allemaal
JEAJ
Hoi hoi. Veel plezier met het plannen. Fietsen is leuk! 🙂
Hoi Matthew,
Dat is nog eens wat anders dan (samen) sleutelen in kiel -Windeweer.
Maar wel nodig voor als je nog een keer een spaak breekt.
Veel plezier op proefroute voor het grote werk.
Groet Ronald
Hoi Ronald. Deze week is mijn proefrit met al mijn spullen. Een leuke tocht naar vrienden in Limoges. Is mooi! Groetjes uit Orléans! 🙂
[…] Day 1. 155km. Paris-Égreville: A ride through the old and the new. The old: beautiful Paris – overflowing with memories of the last 26 years. Bathed in warmth and sun, I cycled through memory lane. The new: Following the Seine upstream I discovered the meandering valley, and met my lovely Warmshowers hosts – Nicole and Claude – at their house in the rolling hills of wheat. […]