Call me Lance!

(From Betsy) Having been inspired by our weekend biking excursions and a friend from work, I decided last week to try biking to work. I’m still intimidated by the Parisian traffic, but it’s not like I have to ride through the traffic circle at the Arc de Triomphe… and it seems like a good way to combine exercise, commuting, and getting to know the city (or at least the part between home and work). My friend Ted from the office, who lives around the corner from our apartment, let me tag along with him on his usual route one morning last week, and I was totally thrilled with myself (although he’s much more fit than I am, so I’m sure I was dragging him down). As an added bonus, it takes even less time than taking the metro.

Ted had a meeting in the afternoon, so I gathered my courage and rode home on my own, just retracing the path we took in the morning – pretty harrowing in reverse, as it turns out, since I discovered there were two places I had to merge across moving traffic. The second time I only realized the problem about 20 feet from a fork where I was about to get dumped onto the highway running alongside the river, so I had to bail out along the sidewalk (at least there are sidewalks everywhere, that’s something to be grateful for!) and walk my bike back a couple blocks to find a safe way to cross over. So, Lesson #1: can’t necessarily reverse all your routes! I took a little movie of my ride, though – check it out.

Since then, I’ve ridden in twice more, mapping out a different route each time. The biggest challenges are figuring out how to get under the périphérique (the beltway)---there are only 3 or 4 spots where you can cross in this section of the city – and finding routes that aren’t too traffic-y. But the nice thing is that a lot of people here ride bikes, so even though the drivers seem more aggressive, they’re actually much more used to having bikes in traffic with them. Even if it’s busy, you can get through an intersection or around a double-parked truck just by holding out your arm and the car behind will actually slow down and let you merge into the lane.

As Ted said when we were sitting at a light when we rode home together last Friday, “Sometimes I just feel so American.” He’s lived in France for about 10 years, but looking around, I knew just what he meant. There we were outfitted with biking helmets and dayglow vests with reflectors, waiting patiently for the light to change. I mean, I basically don’t care how dorky I look if it helps the cars see me better… Meanwhile, the French people on bikes are pulling into traffic and zipping around traffic circles. The guys are wearing suits, and half the women are riding bikes in skirts and high heels. Not a helmet to be seen. And more than a couple people smoking a cigarette while riding. Actually, this is one of the things that finally motivated me try riding to work – I figure if they can ride bikes like that, I should be able to do it in normal shoes! The kids are totally thrilled about me riding my bike to work, and completely jealous that I get to wear a cool dayglow vest. Carter bought himself one like it this afternoon (only 5 euros!) and is lobbying to come to work with me one day so we can bike together.

Here’s a couple quick highlights of our weekend, since we haven’t posted in a while. Chris and I had dinner last Saturday with a friend of my high-school buddy David and his wife Jamie. Their friend Melissa married a Frenchman (another David) who she met while they were both working in Philly, and the two of them moved to Paris three years ago. We left the kids in the capable hands of a babysitter (a great kid, from the upper grades at Carter’s school, who lives about 1/2 block from our apartment) and met Melissa and David for dinner by the Bastille –a very hip and lively neighborhood. It was good to get out on our own, and Melissa and David were really fun. They made us feel very welcome, and we’re already planning to see them again in a couple weeks.

On Sunday (see pics), we spent the day with our friend Kevin (from Mandeville, the one Chris met at the Paris orientation session at the American Church). He’s had some problems with his visa and is headed home to Louisiana to see family and friends and get his visa resolved. He came with us in the afternoon to see the Musee Bourdelle, a small museum in the 15th arrondisement. Bourdelle was sculptor and a protégé of Rodin, which definitely shows in his early work, but he strikes out with his own style later on, which is slightly neo-Stalinist… the museum has some really pretty little courtyards, and the kids enjoyed posing with the sculptures (and even being one).

Well, that’s the news from here. Tomorrow is the Ascension holiday, so we all have the day off from classes and work. We’re getting to together with my friend Monica (who also worked at EPA and moved from DC to Paris a month before we did) and her family tomorrow afternoon. Tonight we’re anxiously waiting for news about Cath’s baby being born. She’s in labor (and has been for a while) as I type. We love you and miss you and wish we could be there.

p.s. Kidding about the movie of my bike ride, of course! (As if I'd even be brave enough to take my hands off the handlebars!) The movie, "C'etait un rendez-vous," is a cult classic in France. It shows, at true speed, an early morning car ride (rumored to be a Ferrari, but actually a Mercedes) through Paris. Aside from the thrill of the ride and the number of red lights they run, the thing that inspires a lot of awe is that they didn't get caught by the police doing it. According to the web site, they were supposed to have look-outs posted at various points along the route, communicating by radio to the driver of the car and warning him about any traffic impediments. They didn't realize until after the fact that the radio connection in the car wasn't working... I think the close call with the bus crossing the intersection is the best evidence. The film catches some great Paris highlights zipping by at 150 km/hr: Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, the Moulin Rouge, and Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. The kids have been warned that this definitely falls into the category of "do NOT try this at home."