Trying out the "Velib"

Summer has arrived in Paris and we have been enjoying warm, sunny days and, happily, cool nights. This is the Paris weather that the tourists (and "moi") love. Last Saturday, we had to take advantage of it, and decided to go bike-riding. We had endured 4 days of sirens from the ambulance strke on the street below, another strike by health workers a few days later, and a fire in the Health Department building across the street (just smoke, didn't see much damage). We looked forward to spending a day away from the excitement a city sometimes offers.

Last summer, Lyle and I did a LOT of biking all around the twin cities back in Minnesota. There are wonderful bike trails all around the lakes, rivers, and into small towns and I know I logged in over 100 miles. But, I am pretty choosy about bike rides - they need to be relatively flat with just small hills, and they need to be scenic without a lot of traffic.

Well, Paris is relatively flat, but I am still not ready to tackle riding in the craziness of traffic here. I know, people do it all the time, but I get stressed riding in a car in the round-abouts, let alone navigate a bike! So, we opted for renting two of the thousands of rental "Velib" bikes stationed all over Paris and joined our friends Stephen and Frances at the southern edge of Paris. They told us about a great bike trail that leads out of Paris and goes through a number of small towns, all through beautiful parkland. Sounded like just the ticket.

Our first challenge was to translate the directions at the bike station, putting 150 euros EACH on our credit card, as a deposit. We succeeded in unlocking the bikes and we were off.....




I thought I was in shape, having lost a few pounds, walk daily, and work out (sometimes) with my ball and weights. Well, these bikes had three speeds, and I was panting and sweating as we hit a few hills on the trail. I couldn't understand why it was so hard......until Lyle told me my seat was way too low. After fixing that, it DID get easier, although I have a ways to go to match Frances, who bikes and works out every day! (She is also a dancer and in great shape!)

We biked about 10 kilometers south, arrived at Sceaux, and walked our bikes right through the center of town.
They told us about a chateau south of the town and that sounded like a great destination (another chateux???? Haven't we seen enough to last us through the summer?)

We weren't disappointed! We arrived to a beautiful public park with gardens, canals, waterfalls, and a rebuilt chateau that houses a free museum.


I learned that this chateau is not the original. The earlier one was a spectacular masterpiece built in the 1600's by Jean Baptiste Colbert, a finance minister of King Louis XIV. Gardens were designed by the famous Andre LeNotre, who designed gardens at Versailles and at chateaux throughout the Loire Valley. The king's son took it over in 1700 and it was made into quite the showplace and party-place.....


......but during the French Revolution, it was confiscated, looted, and then destroyed in 1803. It wasn't until the 1850's that it was rebuilt, only on a much smaller scale, although the land around it seems to go on forever. In 1937, it was turned into a public park. What a wonderful place to visit to get out of the city, with it's beautiful trees, cascading waterfalls, and "grand canal". This is definitely a place to head for a relaxing day out of the city! I just have to figure out how to get there besides on a bike!

We headed home, riding to the end of the trail back in Paris, dropped off our bikes at a different bike station.....and hopefully received our "deposit" back on our credit card. Hot, sweaty, and a little worn out (an understatement?)we found the metro station to go home and clean up so that we could enjoy the "longest day" of the year. This is a big deal in Paris (and throughout Europe) and we didn't want to miss the "Fete de Musicale" and the 1,000 bands all over Paris.