Wanderings: Paris

March 16, 2022

There are places you go once and enjoy, but they get old really fast (e.g., New Orleans). Then there are places you like at first and which you appreciate more and more each time you go. Paris falls into the latter category for me (1).

Upon arrival, I got a 24-hour pass for the Velib bike share system, and rode downriver from Ile de La Cité to the Eiffel Tower (2).

La Musée D'Orsay, home to Van Gogh's Starry Night, is back upriver. There is an Van Gogh "immersive" exhibit in Boston based on Starry Night that my graduate students had discussed visiting, but seeing the original is better. The Van Gogh room was quiet when I got there, so I had a good view (3). There is something special about this work.

I poked about the museum for a while and stopped for a Café Vienoisse (4) at the museum cafe. The museum is housed in a beautiful old train station, and the cafe is on the top floor facing the clock from the inside. I grabbed a bike again (5), and met my friend for dinner near Place de La Bastille. We had a four course French meal and engaging conversation.

After dinner, she wanted to go for a ride, so we grabbed some Velib bikes and enjoyed a ride through the city of lights. Even at 11:00 p.m. on a Wednesday in March, there were plenty of people about.

(1) I found a really cheap last-minute flight from Porto, and have a friend in Paris whom I have not seen since long before Covid.

(2) Since my last visit to Paris, a bike lane separated by low curbing has been installed on the boulevard to the south of the Seine. This is a vast improvement over the former combined bus/bike lane that was not physically separated from the road and used by big tour buses, taxis, and French drivers in a hurry. This addition also resulted in the separation of pedestrians and cyclists.

(3) Walking by later, there was actually a line of people waiting to see the painting.

(4) A Parisian concoction of Coffee, Cocoa, and stiff whipped cream. Despite its name (Vienesse coffee), the drink is apparently unknown in Vienna.

(5) The Velib system has bicycle racks throughout Paris and is designed to encourage short term use. Each time I stopped, the bike was inserted into the rack and a new one picked up later. The biggest risk is that no bike is available when you need one, or the rack is full when you want to return. The rack at La Musée D'Orsay has 60 slots; fortuitously, there was one open slot (on the far end) when I arrived. Overall, I got my money's worth (€5): I used a bike 6 times in the 24 hours.