Sunday, May 03, 2009

Paris 1 : Quiet On Sunday

It was raining in some part of the journey and the ride took about 2 hours plus (if my memory serves me right...). The train stops at Gare du Nord which is very near to where my friend, Pierre stays. He picks me up from the station and it's great to meet him again after 2 years when he was doing his round Asia trip.

typical bicycle rental station with automated machine

Pierre suggested a bicycle ride in Paris to kick start my time!!! I never imagine the traffic is very minimal on Sunday in one of the world's biggest metropolitan city it's really a great feeling navigating around Paris on bicycle. And Pierre introduced to me the great bicycle rental system in Paris which I used most of the time during my next few days in Paris. It's very convenient with a rental fee of Euro1 (I couldn't remember exactly...) which you charged to your credit card. Then you have to set a password to take the bicycle (all DIY at machine) at the station which can be found a lot on the streets. If you ride on the same bicycle for less than 30 mins before returning it to the station, it's free. This means you can travel by bicycle from one place to another FREE if you change bicycle every 30mins. Isn't this fantastic??? And most of the places you wanna go will be of the vicinity of this bicycle renting facilities. I ended up only using Metro a few times during my stay there.

On the bicycle around the Montmarte area I guess... very near to the Moulin Rouge I think....

Walking from/to the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel

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