Oh dear Oh dear. Naughty Navigator. Add a few more Terminators and a sore head it makes. A telling off from the neighbours at 2am to keep the noise down as we chatted away to some fellow novice bicycle tourists from Aus. Rik and Paula and some German guys all in our little enclave of the camp. The Liptons bottle plan did not need to come into action and the morning quickly turns to afternoon. A bit of tinkering with the bike so I can mount the head cam on the handlebars to do some filming whilst cycling around Paris. Looking rather touristy on the edge of the Bois de Bologne a kind Frenchman on a bicycle offers to guide us in the right direction. We ride and chat with him all the way down to the Seine as he tells us nuggets of information as we go. Today we view the Arc de Triomphe from the other side from the middle of the Place de Concorde. It really is quite a sight watching the traffic coming down from the mighty arch. Then to the Orangerie we go but it's closed and a rather long hunt for a crepe starts. Eventually we find our food of choice and accompany it with a pitcher of Brut Cidre. The pitcher is made of china and so are the cups. We drink the apply loveliness with little fingers pointing out. One pitcher turns to two as the hotel next door has wifi we can use for free and the view from our little balconette is so delightful. It's an early birthday for Maddy so we enjoy the day. Two litre pitchers of cidre later we wobble off outside into the blazing sunshine and cycling becomes a tad more difficult. Fortunately Paris seems to be designed with this in mind and little bicycles on the road mark not only your path but your direction. It's perfect. We follow a velo trail and head off in search of a bar we had been recommended. About an hour of walking and cycling later we find the hip Chez Prune in the art district and enjoy a plate de charcuterie with our abbey beers. Sitting back shooting the breeze and surveying the st martin canal scene. Stuffed as a pike the night time Paris beckons and hilarity ensues as we take on the Place de Concorde and the Champs Elysées in our fat semi inebriated state. As Stevens did back in 85 we take in the high society on the Champs late at night and stop for a Hagen Daaz to tip us over the edge. When we find out its 5 euro a scoop(!) we vacate our seats and go for a takeaway instead. The Champs Elysées still commands the wealthy wallets it did back in 1885. Back off into the night air we ride, bursting at the seams from a most enjoyable day of leisure and wheel on through the Bois de Bologne and take in the spectacle that is the ladies and the lady men of the night plying their trade by the side of the road with an oh so handy wood behind them to conduct their business. I film them unaware on the bike cam and offer my sincerest good wishes to one or two of them on a prosperous evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment