On your bike!

My friends V and J (Americans living in London) have a flat in Paris because they lived there for a few years before landing in London.  They are one of my favorite couples.  V is a jersey girl (holler) and so smart and funny and fun and J is just one of the most thoughtful guys in the world, and always up for an adventure.  One night at book club we decided that we should take a weekend trip to Paris....yes I realize how pretentious that sounds, but I'm over it.  :)

A few months later and several emails, V, J, Am, H and I are off to Paris.  H is also a good friend.  We went to college together and both randomly ended up in London.  She's also very fun.  We were all leaving on the o'dark thirty train out of St Pancras, and - of course - Am and I were bad girls and went out the night before.  Oopsies.  Well Am didn't partake as much as I did, so when I showed up at St Pancras I was a little worse for wear, but I napped on the train and woke up feeling much better.  I was in Paris after all, time to get over it!  We got there, dropped our stuff at V's AMAZING pad in Marmot and then headed down to a cafe for some wine and lunch.  We then walked around a bit to see some of the sites.

BACKGROUND: V and H are both very big bikers.  They love it.  They are good at it.  I have not been on a bike in about 15 years.  Not because I don't like bike, but just because I haven't been on one.

OK back in Paris now.. V suggests that we get some bikes and ride through town.  I was nervous about this. Mostly because of the whole 15 years thing and the fact that we A) didn't have helmets and B) 15 years ago when I was on a bike, it was in the suburbs of new jersey where you wouldn't see a car for 20 minutes at a time.  They convinced me that it would be fine.  Am saw it as an adventure.  I was terrified. I got anyway. I rode between everyone, so I was never last.  However even this didn't seem to save me.  Most of the time there were bike lanes.  A few times, there weren't.  We were on the major roads.  When this happened, V would go - perfectly fine, Am would go - perfectly fine, I would go - garbage truck pulls in front of me, H goes - perfectly fine.

me in the forefont clenching a smile, everyone else having the time of their lives 

This repeated several times, except substitute garbage truck for car door opening, woman with stroller, German shepherd (even though it was french, it did understand when I yelled "out of the way poochie!!" at it). I rang my bell to try and save me.  H reminded me that no one can hear that except us and it wasn't going to save me.  So please stop.

At the end of the day, though, it was all made worth while.  We met J at the Eiffel tower at 8 or 9 and he had an entire picnic waiting for us complete with bottles of wine, baguettes, cheeses, cherry tomatoes, spreads, blankets AND jackets for all us in case we got cold (see I told you he was thoughtful).  So we dug in.  It was soo much fun.  We made friends with the people all around us, some of whom had a guitar who played and we sang.  Then we bought some more wine from the little men who were walking around selling supplements to those picnic-ers who didn't expect their night to go on as long as it did.  Around 3:30 am after lots of laughs, great food, and some lovely wine, we decided to pack it in.

The next morning we woke up, had a lovely brunch, and then hit the town to do some more touristy things and bit of shopping.  At 5 pm we met J at a jazz cafe off the beaten path.  It was amazing.  I've never seen live jazz, but I've learned that I love it.  I felt like I was in a trance when I was watching these three guys play. It was so relaxing and fun!  Then we headed off to V and J's old local dinner place.  It is run by the two gay guys who hate everyone and were soo funny.  Well, hate everyone except V and J of course!  The food was amazing.  We stumbled back home in a food coma and called it a night.  Monday morning we woke up, took the 7 am or something train back to London and then headed into work.  Overall...AMAZING weekend!!