Yesterday after picking up Harry Potter, Dave and I decided to have a go at the bike rental service (Velib) that I failed so miserably with last weekend. A short walk from the bookstore we found a set of bikes and waited in the usual line while other people tried to figure it out.
When we took our turn, I was relieved to find that the kiosks finally spoke English. Bad for my French learning, good for my nerves.
We poked through the screens with relative ease and finally had two bikes at our disposal. Success!
We took off down a side street near the Louvre and biked parallel with rue Rivoli for a while. It was my first real experience with city biking and the bike was a little wobbly (or else I really had forgotten how to ride a bike). I was afraid I was going to wipe out a pedestrian or, worse, bump into one of the expensive sports cars in the trendy shopping district.
We cruised all around the heart of Paris, through Châtelet, past the Hôtel de Ville and Marais, and over the Seine. The wrong way down a few roads, and charged through a pack of tourists in front of the Notre Dame before finally parking our bikes on the Ile de Cite.
Riding in traffic made David uncomfortable, but I loved it and can't wait until next weekend to go again.
Here's a little video from our trip.
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