Paris Layover
It does deserve its reputation. Paris, as viewed through my lens fresh from India, was stunning in nearly every way. After the loudness of Bangalore, I found peace first thing in the Bois de Boulogne. A piece of nature right in the center of the city, large enough to feel truly immersed. The calm, the fresh air all made me feel rejuvenated. I had a few moments of skipping down the trail in pure joy. This was a superb start to short visit to Paris.
My flight arrived early in the morning so I had nearly 2 full days to explore and enjoy. Having just come off a ~10 hour flight, I stretched my legs by walking about 23 km that day. Via my legs and the metro system I visited “modern Paris”. Skyscrapers that would look at home in practically any city, were mostly devoid of activity as it was Sunday. More than other cities I have visited, Paris seemed eerily quiet on Sunday. Apparently the Christian traditions run deep. And speaking of those traditions, I made my way to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Certainly still an ornate and historic building but now surrounded by walls, scaffolding, and cranes. I was able to glimpse the facades from afar as the Cathedral is closed to visitors while construction is ongoing.
My march of monuments continued. Near-ish to Notre Dame is the Pantheon. This was the trend throughout the day. I would browse the map while at one location and find that just over there is another something interesting. This pattern repeated itself over and over until my feet could not keep up anymore. The Pantheon was very French that day (maybe it is everyday?). Since I was seeing as much as possible I never went inside any of these sights, merely saw them from the outside. I certainly appreciated the ornate details.
Somewhat inspired by the recent visit to Spain and Portugal, I had to experience the café culture. I found a sidewalk café and somewhat sheepishly asked for a table and a menu. Although this wasn’t some giant boulevard I still got plenty of people watching in while sipping wine. This along with some snacks gave me enough energy to make it to a proper dinner restaurant. Inside this place was a gravity defying staircase and hopefully historic interior. I had some French cheese and some French bread. Mission Accomplished!
The next day, after my monument marathon, my legs were toast. Walking 1 km or so to breakfast was enough to know that walking the whole day wasn’t sustainable. Lucky for me, Paris has bikes and I sure love to bike! I had a bit of an issue at first unlocking a bike from a dock but at a second dock station I succeeded. This was the best move I possibly could have made. I have ridden bikes many thousands of miles in varied terrain but riding in Paris may have been my greatest day of riding ever! Not because I was on some super bike, not because I achieved some grand goal but because of the history, the pomp and circumstance. I got to ride the same roads as the finale of Le Tour de France! I was a few days early as the race finished in Paris on July 23rd. Nonetheless, I saw the work happening all around in preparation. I smiled all the way along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph. I hadn’t realized that the road was cobbled but soaking up the bumps just added to the whole experience. I rode around the gigantic round-about, questioning how any of the car drivers knew how to navigate around the monument. Without really having much of a plan, I ended up doing the route twice more!
Once I pried myself away from the historic boulevard I continued to ride around the city. I saw a bunch more monuments as well as some of the standard life of a Parisian. Throughout the whole day I rode around 35 km. My legs could still take me places! I traded out my rental E-bike several times throughout the day as I docked it to explore some particular location. I, of course, got my pic with the Eifel Tower. I came long before all the couples came to have their picnics or before the Tower started to glitter with lights. I found the historic opera house must be having budget issues since there was a very large billboard on the side. I am sure the opera audiences aren’t what they used to be but the juxtaposition of the ornate opera with the modern advertisement just didn’t seem right. I found the Bastille only a few days after its namesake day. Turns out skateboarders like to hang out in the plaza there. I sat and watched, remembering my own time as a skateboarder.
The conclusion to my layover was another French dinner. I had wine, I had meat (lots of meat). It was a fitting end to the trip to crack the crème brulee.
