Enjoying An Almost Car Free Paris

When we were last in Paris, back in 2019, I was planning to be back in 12 months' time. Of course I had no idea that a worldwide pandemic was going to change all that. It has taken four years for our plans to finally come to fruition, and we were both keen to see how Paris had changed in that time.

The most obvious change that we could see immediately was that Paris now has far fewer cars than previously. During Covid, many kilometres of dedicated bike lanes were constructed throughout the city. This included making several high profile roads out of bounds for normal vehicular traffic.

Although Covid is now largely behind us, the changes to Paris streets are permanent. It was refreshing to be able to walk along the famous Rue de Rivoli, sharing the road with only bicycles, scooters, taxis and fellow pedestrians.

In spite of the initial resistance to this change, it is obvious that Parisians have embraced it enthusiastically. As I looked out at the sea of bikes riding along the streets, I could not help but think that Paris was looking more like Amsterdam.

The main aim of our morning walk was to return to the familiar area of the L'ile de la Citie and the L'ile St Louis. These two large islands in the Seine are situated close to the heart of Paris, and are home to some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

Back in 2013 Maggie stayed in an apartment on the L'ile St Louis for two weeks while the rest of the group rode the Loire, and she was keen to revisit the place she had grown to love. We were also keen to see the progress on the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.

On our last visit in 2019, it was soon after the devastating fire, and repair work was only in its infancy. Four years later, the cathedral is still enclosed in a mammoth lattice of scaffolding. Although much has been achieved, there still appears a huge amount still remaining to be finished. It is really hard to see how it will be completed on schedule at the end of 2024.

While we were walking I was having fun reading the names of shops along the way. The one which really stood out for being brilliantly creative was a patisserie with the magnificent name "She's Cake". Since their major product was a huge array of different cheesecakes, the name was a stroke of someone's genius.

After returning to the apartment for lunch and a rest, we headed off again in the afternoon. This time we were wanting to return to the Place de Vosges, a small garden we had discovered on our previous visit. On the way there we made another chance discovery, when we walked into the Museum of Parisian History.

This free museum was crammed with interesting exhibits from Paris over the centuries. We were enjoying ourselves until Maggie nearly created an ugly international incident by tripping over and falling into the priceless Louis XIV collection, almost destroying the whole thing. This earned a stern rebuke from the attending guard. Oh well, it was a thing that unfortunately happens to old people.

We tried to walk away without causing more damage or attracting more unwanted attention. It was a little embarrassing, to say the least, but I am sure the damage can be easily repaired with a little superglue and duct tape.Read more