June 19, 2023
Paris to CDG
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France never fails to impress. Today we road Dorthy around Paris to soak in the one final bit of France. The center of the city has been turned over to bicycles, scooters and pedestrians. Cars are very much second place and discouraged. It is a marvelously transition from the traffic snarled streets I experienced on my first trip back in 1989. Every street has a bike lane, many separated by a concrete divider. The law here says if a motorist hits a non motorized road user they are at fault no matter what. Drivers are very cautious around cyclists.
We road along the Seine and entered a car tunnel that has been converted to bicycles and pedestrians. The walls were covered with graffiti and art. Some were very impressive and it was a great thrill to roll through the tunnel in the darkened environment looking at the paintings as if it was an underground art gallery. It was so special we decided to turn around and go through it a second time.
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After getting our fill of food and Paris tourists we started our slow ride out to our hotel near CDG. I had mapped a route that followed the EV3 for as long as possible before turning off to get to the airport area and our hotel. For most of the ride we cruised along Canal de l'Ourcq. It was a very pleasant ride through some non tourist areas of Paris. Like all large cities we passed through some rich areas, some not so rich areas and some industrial areas as we got closer to the airport.
After we left the bike path we were on road and we had a mix of separate bike lanes and green squares containing a white bicycle painted on the roads indicating a cycling path. There was one section where a big park was featured on the map and komoot had routed us around the edge on some busy roads. With plenty of time I thought we might be able to go cross country through the park. We made it so close by slowly working our way down cobble stone roads and dirt paths in the park only to come to a locked gate at the corner we needed to exit. After back tracking we emerged from the park close to where we entered and continued on the road.
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As we entered the area of our hotel we took a detour to a grocery store to stock up for dinner tonight and some snacks for the flight. We found a great store with all sorts of cheese and fresh fruit for us to choose. With our bike fully loaded we continued to our hotel.
It was time to break Dorthy down and put her back into her suitcases. We found a spot under the trees in the car park and while Kathy took our bags up to our room I started the disassemble and wrapping process. I normally have to be careful with how much I put in each case to make sure they are under the 50lb limit but with Kathy's upgraded status we now have 70lb allowance per bag so everything goes in the case.
With everything packed it was off to our room for dinner and an early bed ready to tackle the getting to the airport in the morning.
Now it is really over, see you on the next ride.
Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 678 miles (1,091 km)
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