Day #1 – Bois de Vincennes

Bike route to Bois de Vincennes

This route takes you along relatively busy roads, through Place de la Republic, then through Bastille – the site of the initial spark of the French Revolution, and out to Bois de Vincennes, a large park on the eastern edge of the city.   The park has playgrounds and rides for kiddies, as well as crepe and coffee vendors.  A lake in the middle offers a chance to do some leisurely rowing, or be escorted to the island by a professional gondolier.  There seemed to be a smattering of yarmulke-porting Hebrews in the area.

Day #2 – Louvre, Notre Dame, Canal St-Martin, African Slum

Bike tour to Louvre, Notre Dame, Canal St-Martin, and African Slums

This route is an ad-hoc meander through various neighborhoods, some touristy and some not.  First stop is the Louvre, where a visit to the suites of Napoleon III are a must.  It seems to be possible to lock a bike up to just about any object without police interference.  Next is a quick jaunt through the Tuilleries, the nicest gardens in Paris.  And last, but not least on the cultural calendar is Notre Dame, reached by traveling through a winding path in the 6th arrondisement – a  posh little area, and then on to Ile de la cite, where Notre Dame sits.

After the loop through the cathedral, a drink along the Canal St.-Martin is in order.  To ride past the Picasso museum without so much as a glance is less a feat than might be imagined after the burnout from the Louvre and Notre Dame.  At Canal St.-Martin, one can easily find a seat at the Irish pub on Quai de Jemmaps astride the stinking canal and and pity the poor artist types who dwell there over a pint of 1664 talking about their unimagined projects.  Yet, all this time, you will never encounter a black person in all of Paris until you cross over into the neighborhood behind Gare du Nord and reach the open market on the corner of rue Duhesme and rue Ordener, where you will stick out like a sore white thumb in a field of handy Africans and one would be hard-pressed to find a bougie or tourist until returning to the safety of the middle-aged hipsterness that is Montmartre.