Barnett Vicarious Adventures: Sunday, August 14, 2011 – Paris France, Night Bicycle Tour and Seine River Cruise

We heard about a fun night bicycle ride and Seine River Boat Tour and decided to take it since it was a beautiful Sunday evening. Sunday is a good day because the traffic is much less that other days. It is August now and most Parisians leave the city for vacations. We have notice many restaurants and shops with signs “Ferma Aout” or “Closed for August”. Jeff told us that in July they had about 10-12 Night Rides and tonight there were only 2. The tourist areas are still crowded this month but other areas of the city there are very few people on the streets and the apartment windows are all closed with shutters.

To see Paris at night is completely different than in the daytime. Riding throughout the streets was so much fun. After the initial bike ride starting at the Eiffel Tower; Academie Francaise (the official authority of the French language (If there is a new English word created then they will assign a French word for it or at least pronounce it differently); Berthillon Ice Cream (famous ice cream of Paris); Princess Diana’s Flame near the tunnel where the accident occurred in 1997; Ile de la Cite, the Ile St. Louis, St. Chapelle, the Latin Quarter, and the Pont des Arts. At 10:00 pm we all boarded on a Seine River boat cruise for about 1 1/2 hours. The bike tour included wine so we had a good time on the cruise. We met several people from the USA. Fat Tire Bike Tours is a company from Texas. When you call they answer in English. One lady from Canada told us she phoned them and spoke French and they told her to please speak English. After the boat trip we got back on the bicycle and rode back to the bicycle shop. Edward and I and a few other people in our group walked to the subway station and we finally got back to the apartment about 1:30 pm.

Crowds under the Eiffel Tower go to the meeting place for the bicycle trip.

Jeff, our leader, giving us instruction. Jeff is from Dallas and went to Hillcrest High School and Texas A&M.

Here we are ready to hit the streets of Paris at dusk.

Edward and Elaine attaching their “Love Lock” to the bridge on the Seine river.

Edward is holding the “Love Lock”

The padlock with the pink letter has Edward + Elaine on one side and our anniversary date 5/12/1072 on the other side. We threw the keys in the river.

Bridge with all the locks on it. There are several bridges in Paris you can do this. Also, couples sit on the bridge and have a picnic and wine. It is so romantic.