Day 2 - Puttering in Paris - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

April 19, 2023

Day 2 - Puttering in Paris

Doing Not Much of Anything, But Everything We Need

Recovery day. Amazingly we managed to sleep until 9 am and then we set about with our planned day of doing not much at all (until later in the evening). It was perfect.

This being Paris, we had less than a 100 m walk to a delectable pâtisserie where we procured breakfast, croissants and pain au raisin, and then a few more steps to get our coffee. We were now set to get on with the day.

First item, sit where we were in the bright sunshine and cool air and watch the people pass by.

After we checked this off the list we set off for the Pompidou Centre, the main event for the day. Although we’ve been to Paris several times (mainly when we lived in the UK and it was a short weekend jaunt away) we never made it into the Pompidou. Today we fixed that.

It was a lovely 40 minute walk along the never boring streets of central Paris and we just enjoyed taking in the sights of daily life.

The Pompidou is Paris’ main museum of modern art, set in a building that is itself one of the iconoclastic pieces of modern architecture. You either love it or hate it but over time it’s fulfilled it’s purpose - “The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou "revolutionised museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city." - Wikipedia”.

After the PC, we metro’d back to our apartment, lazed around a bit, got a blog post complete and then set out for our first CB rendezvous.

As most CB readers probably know, Susan Carpenter has taken up part time residence in Paris, and in many respects has become the CB Paris Ambassador. She had invited us for a get together at one of her favourite local restaurants (which has now become a favourite for us as well) and it turned out to be all and more than we had anticipated.

A lovely dinner and even better night of conversation and laughter. Thank you Susan for an insight into your Paris. It made our day.

The rest of today’s story is told below in pictures.

Song of the day:

Free Man in Paris by the inimitable Joni Mitchell

I was a free man in Paris

I felt unfettered and alive

There was nobody calling me up for favours

And no one's future to decide

You know I'd go back there tomorrow

But for the work I've taken on

Stoking the star maker machinery

Behind the popular blog

Exactly how we were feeling today.

Perfect way to spend a spring day in Paris

… or have lunch on the sidewalk instead.

Iconic images of Paris on a beautiful spring day

Welcome to my abode … this set the tone for the afternoon

This is a Cycling Journal site so I feel obliged to include this

… and to go even further …. The spoke holes are offset and angles … exactly as proscribed for a Rholoff wheel build. Let’s see what gets set off in the Forum with this!

One of many pieces I really liked … I’ll save you and just include this one

Another iconic Paris view from the Pompidou north to Sacre Cœur

This pic pretty much sums up the spectrum of reaction to just about any art museum. Which kid are you?

On to the main course …. A lovely dinner with Susan at Au Passage

CB selfie … K&L with the Paris Ambassador

On our way Home … Susan going west and we’re going east. Bonne Nuit

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Rachael AndersonWhat a perfect day! I’d love to hear about when you lived in the UK. Where did you live and for how long? We enjoyed our 3 months cycling there, although, they sure have some steep climbs!
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1 year ago

Kirsten KaarsooIt was a perfect day. We lived in Glasgow and Aberdeen. Two different times, we moved to Glasgow just after we were married and were there for 3.5 yrs.We moved back to Canada just before our daughter was born. We then moved back 8 years later to Aberdeen with our two kids and stayed for 4 years. We didn’t do a lot of cycling as the infrastructure was not good and it was a bit scary. We did cycle the CtoC route with the kids on tandems and there were huge hills. We also lived in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam for two years.
Lyle cycled many of the routes you and Scott cycled in the Lake District and Yorkshire when he was fresh out of university in ‘82. Hopefully we can share some stories when we meet this summer.
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1 year ago

Gilles RobertWhile its snowing here, it is nice to see all the beautiful greens in trees and people enjoying a real spring.
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1 year ago