France > Cycling through Paris

In the morning at breakfast, I’m ready with my skating gear on. I plan to do a bike tour through Paris and skate to the bike rental. Just as I’m about to leave, a heavy shower breaks out. The streets are wet and too slippery to skate. Plan B comes into action. I take off my skates and walk to the rental. Pieter welcomes me. He is Dutch and lives in Paris. He guides me through the city. On the “secret tour,” he shows the special spots in the city, skipping the standard highlights. The route goes along Montparnasse to the Jardin du Luxembourg. This beautifully landscaped park was created in 1612 at the request of Maria de Médicis around the Palais du Luxembourg. The bike lanes in the city are often combined with the bus lanes. Sometimes I have to steer onto the central median to continue on the bus lane. I arrive at Rue Mouffetard. Rue Mouffetard is one of the oldest and most picturesque streets in the Latin Quarter, with a history going back to Roman times. Many restaurants, cafés, and shops line this lively street. I park my bike and order an espresso to go at a small café. I pass the Jardin des Plantes, a green oasis in the city, and ride past the Grande Mosquée de Paris. On my bike, I enter Les Arènes de Lutèce. This arena is the oldest surviving building in Paris. I cross the Seine to the Place de la Bastille. The Bastille was completely demolished during the French Revolution.

France - A group photo with the cycling group

Today it is a wide traffic circle with only the Colonne de Juillet monument in the center. Via Île Saint-Louis, the smallest island in the Seine, I reach Île de la Cité with Notre Dame Cathedral. I finish the bike tour on the Pont des Arts, a bridge covered with love locks. Couples attach a lock to the bridge and throw the key into the river. At three o’clock, I’m back at the bike rental. In the evening, I eat pizza near the Louvre. After dinner, I put on my skates again for a light tour along Paris’s illuminated highlights. Pieter joins again. He has also put on his skates to give explanations about the city. I skate around the illuminated glass pyramid of the Louvre. Along the Seine, I reach the lit-up Notre Dame and the Hôtel de Ville. Over the cobblestones, I arrive at the Centre Pompidou.

France - The illuminated Htel de Ville in Paris

Pieter talks about the modern museum, the Palais-Royal, and the Egyptian pillar at Place de la Concorde. I skate across the wide road over the small stones and reach the Champs-Élysées. I skate along the sidewalk of this long boulevard to the Arc de Triomphe. It is around midnight when I approach the famous arch. Just in the last stretch, it begins to rain. The smooth tiles of the boulevard become slippery. I feel my skates losing grip. Before I know it, I slip and fall. Carefully, I continue skating to the Arc de Triomphe, where Louis is waiting with the bus. I quickly get on the bus.