Cycling France 2017

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Traveler Cycling France 2017
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- Oct 6, 2017, 8:35pm
- ⛅ 10 °C
- Altitude: 52 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Saint-Mandé Porte Dorée 48.83603, 2.4057748°50’10” N 2°24’21” E
Day 32
Poking around Paris
October 6, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
A great day exploring this amazing city. A street market, an elevated linear park, the Marlais district, Picasso, wine beside the Seine, a huge shopping mall. Nailed the metro to get home 😊.

The longest market in Paris (1385 m). Everything there...local fish/seafood and produce the most impressive.

Promenade Plantee linear park...above the street along an old rail line...first one in the world. Very impressive, very pleasant green space in the heart of the city.

Marlais district - full of cool architecture, art galleries, museums, Jewish culture. Went thru the Picasso museuam. Definitely an accomplished artist. We confirmed it's not our preferred style 🤑.

Wandering thru the narrow streets among cool old buildings to the Seine. Watching the crazy traffic at an intersection beside the Seine...very entertaining. Most drivers don't follow the rules...scooters are especially aggressive. And no one seems to heed the ambulance and police sirens - maybe that explains why you hear them so much.

Les Halles...a multi-tiered, multi-level, humungous mall. Lots of familiar stores amidst local French ones. This is where the young people are...same as at home!Read more
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- Oct 8, 2017, 10:31am
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 46 m
- France Île-de-France Paris Saint-Mandé Porte Dorée 48.83578, 2.4054348°50’9” N 2°24’20” E
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Day 34
Poking around Paris...on bikes. 33 km
October 8, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
Can't be in Paris with bikes and not cycle along the Seine. So that's exactly what we did.

We started out exploring the Bois de Vincennes right beside us. It's a 1000 ha park with....a chateau (of course), four lakes, veledrome, an English landscape garden, a zoo, an arboretum, a botanical garden, a hippodrome (horse-racing track), a velodrome, and more. Its about 3 times the size of NY's central park! Good old Napoleon III had good insight to the future. This is where the joggers come 🏃🏃🏃. It's criss-crossed with running paths, bike paths and walking trails over the whole thing. Great people watching when we stopped for our picnic beside a lake.

Then on to find the Seine . Paris is a surprisingly bike friendly city, even with all the busy-ness. Our street has a bike path the whole way, separated with small concrete barriers so feels quite safe...tho you still must keep a lookout 👀. Before we know it there we are...a fantastic way to see the Seine. We thought we'd 'pop into' Notre Dame to compare it to others we've seen on this trip...hah 🤣. Paris doesn't slow down in October! And around the corner from Notre Dame was just a bustling! We snuck into an Irish bar for our one and only croque monsieur this trip (basically toasted ham and cheese). And a pint - Irish Gold. Then more wandering amongst the masses...pushing our bikes here.

Had a special date tonight with our friends Mark and Diana...who came all the way to Paris to meet us for dinner at a cute bistro 😉. Lifestyles..... a fun time!Read more
Traveler That's great!
10/9/17Reply
Traveler Maybe a little to much vin? Lol
10/9/17Reply
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- Oct 9, 2017, 10:28am
- ☁️ 12 °C
- Altitude: 101 m
- France Île-de-France Épiais-lès-Louvres Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport 49.01292, 2.5580749°0’47” N 2°33’29” E
Day 35
Final day in Paree
October 9, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Didn't try to cram in last minute stuff. Just took it easy and enjoyed the day.

Another market right outside our hotel. More of the same from the other day but always fun to check out.

Then up onto the Promenade Plantee and walked along the part we didn't see the other day. It's really great. The use it gets! Including joggers of course 🏃...what a good option in downtown Paris.

Yesterday we had checked out the route we'd take to the airport so we headed down to the Seine again, this time with our bikes loaded 🚵. Pas de problem. And before we caught the train we met up with someone we hadn't seen in 16 years....

Gregoire had stayed with us on an exchange program for 4 months when he was in grade 11. Kirsten then stayed with his French family later in the year. They've kept in touch, and we had a really good time getting caught up on all his news. He's doing very well and looks great. He got married just one month ago....we didn't get to meet his new wife but Canada is on their radar in future.

Then onto the regional train to the airport. Had to carry our bikes and baggage down, down, down, down lots of stairs. Turned out just fine with the pannier straps and my new light bike 😊. Thirty-five minutes later we're at the airport stop and walk a few hundred metres to our final hotel. Nice to be out here for the morning ...it'll be a long enough day anyway.Read more
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- Oct 9, 2017, 9:17pm
- ⛅ 8 °C
- Altitude: 29 m
- Canada British Columbia Fairfield Gonzales Hill 48.42467, -123.3312348°25’29” N 123°19’52” W
Day 35
Happy Thanksgiving!
October 9, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
And welcome back to Canada 🇨🇦 for these bikers.

We have a lot to be thankful for. A great trip to France , cycling over 1000 km, 25 different beds 🛏️ (most really hard 🤐), LOTS of sights and experiences. And back home healthy and happy 😊. Many, many thanks ❤️.

The bikes made it to Vancouver none the worse for wear, so all good there.

And same for the travelers. The flight was smooth and on time, we cycled back to the hotel where we left our car, put the bikes on the rack and got to the ferry in lots of time. Glad we had that reservation on a long weekend.

Home feels great 🏡! Our own shower 🛁, own bed 🛌. Ahhh! Probably won't have fresh croissants in the morning, but time for a change anyway.

Looking forward to connecting with friends and family....non-digitally 😁.Read more
Traveler So glad that you enjoyed your trip and that you are back safe and sound!! I've enjoyed all of your great pics and write ups. Love to you both!
10/12/17Reply
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Poking around Paris

Poking around Paris...on bikes. 33 km

Final day in Paree

Happy Thanksgiving!