Bercy is an area in the 12th district in Paris which has a park and a quaint little shopping area. Here are some pictures from the park.
After lunch, Julie and I headed out to the Champs E’Lysees to see the Arc du Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We were on a bit of a time schedule since Julie had convinced me to go on the Fat Tire Night Bike Tour of Paris and it met at 7PM. We actually managed quite well, well enough to head down to Rue Cler for a quiche and a crepe. In one of the more absurd episodes of my travels abroad, we waited 30 minutes to use a self-cleaning public toilet. It was super clean since it was cleaned after every use, but it took forever. Started chatting to the young American couple in front of us in line and discovered he was from upstate New York: Waterville! He was super stoked to find out Aunt Jane and Uncle Mel live near Utica and we decided it indeed was a small world.
Since the toilet took forever, we actually made good time for the bike tour sign up and got the first tickets of the night. As we walked toward the bike office to pay and get our bikes, I chitchatted with the couple who came right after use: Patty and Roger. They are in Paris for their 40th wedding anniversary. They’re from Tampa and this was their first transatlantic flight and their first time in Europe.
Jack, our guide, suited us up and as a massive group of 26 we headed out onto the Parisian roads! I loved the cycling but was frustrated by how slow we had to go. All the commuter bikes zipped past and all I could think of was, "I want to be in commuting mode too!" I stayed near the front with Jack and also kept an eye on Patty who almost crashed into everyone at least once, but she was having the time of her life.
At Notre Dame, we stopped for Jack to lecture a bit and as if he had ordered it, there was a man playing accordion right next to us, providing the perfect Parisian background music. Also at this stop, we had Bertillion ice cream, rumored to be THE BEST ice cream in Paris. Was it the best? It was good, but then again, I'm biased with my Venetian gelato.
Our bike tour continued on through the streets of Paris and as the sun set, we started heading toward the launch for our Seine River cruise. We were running a bit late so we were trying to go as fast as we could safely. As we came up on a curb in front of the Place de la Concorde, I heard a clunk and Julie yelled, "Your chains off!" Thankfully I was able to coast for a while then push myself forward with one foot before getting off and running with my bike. Julie sent another rider ahead to tell Jack who promptly flipped my bike and within a minute had the chain back on. We missed the first river cruise, but that gave us some time to relax before the next one came.
Due to a stampede of teenagers, we didn't get the top seats on the boat but Julie and I hung out in the front with Jack (and the wine). We met up with three other girls our age: Erin (the well-traveled cynic), Tabitha (the blonde hairstylist from Kansas living in LA and disenchanted with her Californian dream) and Taylor (Tabitha's best friend and sidekick). I can't tell you about just about anything we saw on the river cruise, but the company was hilarious. Tabitha and Taylor had been going through Spain and just ended up in Paris that morning. They had loads of crazy stories based mostly on the fact of their complete misunderstanding of just about everything including the fact that Tabitha claimed she couldn't find any beef in Barcelona (what?) and didn't like duck cheese (umm...do you mean goat's cheese?).
The girls really were lovely and fun. We toasted Patty and Roger's anniversary as they flirted with each other (so cute!) and somehow made it back to the bike office without anyone crashing into a tree or a car. By the time we got to the Metro, it was 12:15AM and I was exhausted but happy. I'm so glad I took Julie up on the challenge!
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