Paris is not a space you would avoid when one has come all the way from the Southern Pacific Ocean. I knew this would be a feature of my time in France if not Europe. Like Salzburg, Vienna and Amsterdam, this city has such many iconic locations to visit and has its own unique character and long history in culture and its society to bring it to where it is now. The romantic in me will always have a soft spot for a city built on sentimentale and depth of spirit. You don't have to even understand the language - just listen to Edith Piaf or the gymnopédies Piano Works by Erik Satie and you have your indelible impression.
I wanted at least three nights/four days to visit all the iconic sites, Eiffel tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe and out of Paris, Monet's Garden and home. Getting myself and the bicycle from the Paris central station to and Eastern suburb via the metro was a challenge. A good thing I've had plenty of practice with the other European cities as Paris was the most complicated and unbikefriendly of the lot.
Some of you will ask why I did not park myself in the centre of Paris? - try a hotel search and you'll see that Paris can be quite expensive.
You are not allowed to take your bike on the metro and to get to the outer suburbs of Paris you have to take the RER network which means you have to ride from one of the major regional network stations to one of the 'hub' stations close by to catch in my case the RER E. The fare is incredibly cheap - only a couple of Euros as the bike free if your happy to deal with the lack of lifts in some stations.
It was only a short 20 min trip to my hotel which was practically new with kitchenette and even allowed to park the bike inside the room. It was close to a huge shopping centre so I could grab my four days worth of food for cooking and lunches. So with the bike parked and out of mind I was free to travel lighter and wander around the centre of Paris. The weather was perfect and as I love walking I then planned the route for mentionable places - the first being Arc de Triomphe. Very difficult walking in a straight line with the masses of tourists so you spend equal time viewing the scenery and trying not to walk into the wall of people.
When I reached the Eiffel Tower I was amazed at the massive footprint of this skeletal structure. just extraordinary engineering for its time. The tower, built by Eiffel was actually built for the 1889 World Exhibition and only intended to last about 20 years. Eiffel supported the work of a French telecommunications experimenter and so the tower became an important relay structure for future telecommunications - even to this day it is used for broadcasting and telecoms networks. I walked the stairs up to the second platform to get a great view of Paris.
Another must for me was to see the Mona Lisa with my own eyes. To get to it I had to visit the Louvre further along the Rhine River and a real shame I had to stop for crepes and coffee online the way. The queue for the Louvre was long but it moved very quickly so within 10 min I was in my an amazing space as I walked thought the huge halls of the Louvre and works of art everywhere. Classic sculptures, paintings from centuries ago and contemporary works.
The world famous Louvre
I was told I would be lucky to get a glimpse of the young Mona from seven or eight deep crowds but I planned the visit later in the afternoon which meant I got a front row view at the security rope of course. She is protected by a glass box but bigger than people had suggested - in fact she's perfect in every way.
It was a full day so I headed home to the hotel for a quick papa nap to refresh for the evening's activities. For many years I have kept the inspirational books of Monet's garden and his works of art on my coffee table - knowing that one day I would see his garden and well known lily ponds.
To get to Giverny which is approximately 70km north west of Paris you catch the regional train to Vernon and then catch the shuttle bus for 4km or just do the day trip by car. Again the weather was a perfect sunny day which one has to be thankful for a once in a lifetime event, especially given how far I travelled.
Again the crowds were very light so I had plenty of time to peruse the stunning summer garden, the lily pond Monet is famous for in his paintings and walk through his home that still has the external pink stucco walls that perfectly compliments the beautiful green framed windows and doors.
I felt quite at home on the steps of his kitchen entrance, gazed upon his inspiring alley gardens, opened my thermos and made a cup of tea to go with the jam and croissants. My time in France was almost complete - just one more enjoyable farm stay in Northern France, ride through Agincourt where Henry V fought the French (saw the film with Kenneth Branaugh playing King Henry V) and then ride on to Calais for the Dover ferry.
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