Nov. 9: Cruisin' Paris

Over the last month or so Jennie and I have been slowly buillding our confidence for cruising around Paris by bike. Believe it or not, Paris is an excellent city to cycle in. When we moved I did not even bother packing our bikes because after visiting Paris before our move and seeing the traffic I figured, "No way in hell I will ride in that city!" Here it is ~ 8 months later and I have done a complete 180 - Paris is awesome to tour by bike. So, every weekend now we jump on our bikes and cruise.

The astute reader must be asking themselves, "But I thought that you did not pack your bikes?" True, but Paris has an excellent public bike system called the Velib'. I generally use it everyday to partially commute to work, but it is best enjoyed just cruisin' around Paris on a crisp autumn day!

When we cruise there usually is no real destination, but general areas of interest. Today we started by heading over towards the Place de Bastille (shown below), grabbed a coffee, and sauntered towards the Cemeterie Pere Lachaise.


A coworker of mine told me that the Pere Lachaise cemetery was her favorite place in Paris. After visiting, I can fully understand why. I have pictures below all taken from my camera phone. They do not even come close to displaying the beauty and tranquility of the cemetery.

For Jim Morrison fans out there - his grave is below. (I personally thought that this was one of the least impressive graves...it looks so unkept and, basically, like a glorified garbage can).

Below is Oscar Wilde's grave. After learning more about him on my recent trip to Dublin, I was curious to see his grave. It was not what I expected. I thought it was quite interesting that his admirer's kiss his grave with bright red lipstick (look closely and you will see plenty of kiss marks).

And alien tears will fill for him

Pity's long-broken urn,

For his mourners will be outcast men,

And outcasts always mourn.

Below is the crematorium. The two smoke stacks (only 1 visible below) sent chills up my spine.

The rest of the photos are a feeble attempt to capture the tranquility of the cemetery.

After the cemetery we rode down past Notre Dame. Here is Jennie on the Velib'. Sure the bike looks dorky, but it sure makes for a great day in the city!


Then we cruised by the Eiffle Tower. This picture was actually taken last weekend on our weekend Paris cruise.


After about 5 hours of our urban biathlon of riding and walking I squeezed in a 6.5 mile run at an average pace of 7:24 min/mile. I saw 6 trannies (sorry, no photos) and am now chillin' and looking forward to the next weekend all ready!

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