Surfing in Paris!

What magnificent views of Paris one can get on a bike. A couple of weekends ago we debuted our Montreal Ecovelos in the city and headed along the banks of the Seine from Bibliothèque Francois Mitterrand to reach Les Jardins de Tulleries to meet some friends from London. It's wonderful to absorb so many of the grand Paris postcard sites in the matter of minutes at your own pace; Bastille, Ile de cité, Notredame.... The weather was pleasant with a bit of chill but it was surprisingly easy to get around – they even shut off one of the main underpasses along the way, next to the river from cars to allow bikers, strollers, pedestrians and roller skaters to take part in a promenade on a Sunday!

And so I have already discovered a good running route about 5-6km similar to the bike route, leaving from the steps of Bibliothèque Francois Mitterrand after a warm up and then continuing on the banks right next to the Bateaux Mouches (tourist barges with restaurants) reaching the Pont Sully to make my turn around passing through the Jardin de Plantes and the Piscine de Josephine Baker (swimming pook on the Seine which actually uses the river water for their pool – disinfected and filtered I'm told.) on my return. With a bit of sun pressing me on and Paris in the background makes a run all the more rewarding. In fact it reminds me a bit of when we used to run along the Thames from Pimlico back in the day.

Oh yes our Parisian apartment is finally equipped with Internet just as the State implements the Hadopi law – no more illegal downloading of films, music etc in France – apparently violators will be warned by letter and if they persist they will have their internet line suspended whilst still having to pay the fees. I wonder if this will really reverse the decline in media sales. At any rate I am happy to be connected once again!

Happy Surfing!