The rest of the pictures are finally posted on Picasa. The trip and the following visit to my hometown wore me down and resulted in a cold. Pictures from the first part of the trip are here. I'll get captions on those pictures soon.
The pictures cover the ride up L'Alpe d'Huez, the balcony road ride and a whirlwind tour of Paris. The Paris pictures include the Viaduct of Arts, Promenade Plantee, Palais de la Porte Doree, Bois de Vincennes, Parc de Belleville, Montmartre & Sacre Couer Basilica and a few from the traditional Siene river sites. I say this after every trip but I really do need to slow down, stop and take more pictures.
Hope you enjoy them!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Velib bikes
With the name ‘Dancing Chain’ it’s time to get back to writing about bicycles. The bicycles in this case are the shared bicycles that took me around Paris for one frantic day of touring.
Paris has a shared and (almost) free bike transit system called Velib for picking up and dropping off bikes throughout the city. There are hundreds of stations throughout Paris with most no more than 300 yards apart. You pickup a bike, ride to your destination and drop it off. When you’re ready to move on, you pick up another bike and go on to your next destination.
I used Velib bikes to cover over 20 miles in one stupidly ambitious day of sightseeing. Using the Velib bikes is recommended; doing 20 miles in a day isn’t.
My folding bike was available but I chose not to use it. For one thing, it was all packed up and ready for the flight back the next day. And the Velib bikes gave me the freedom to drop off a bike one place, walk around and then just pick up another. With my bike I would have had to lock it and worry about it. And I would have had to return to it. With the Velib system, I simply found the nearest station and grabbed another bike.
How does the system work? For the tourist, you purchase a 1 or 7 day pass at any of the kiosks for about $1.50 or $7.50. The first half-hour of use of a bike is free so $1.50 is all I paid to get around Paris all day. There is an English language option on the terminals although I didn’t notice or use it at first. Sign up was quick and easy. After you agree to the terms and swipe your card, you select a PIN and are then given a print out with an account number. To get a bike, enter the account number and PIN, choose your bike and remove it from the rack. To drop off, just place your bike into a rack and be sure to wait until the blinking light turns green to confirm the return.
For US tourists, an American Express card seems to be the only one that works with the system. Mastercard and Visa do not. I requested an Amex Blue card that has a RFID chip just to try these bikes and had no issues. By swiping the card, the system can charge you if you keep a bike for more than ½ hour as well as hold you responsible if you fail to return the bike ($150).
Having users sign-up makes this bike sharing system different from the free shared bicycle programs tried in various cities (Amsterdam, Portland, Cambridge). Vandalism and theft were issues with such programs. Programs similar to Velib have been started in Washington, Barcelona, Lyon and other cities.
What about the bicycles? These aren’t sub-20 pound racing bikes.
They are sturdy and fat tired with a basket, lights, a little bell and a broad seat. A quick release permits adjustment of the seat height. My guess is they weigh about 50 pounds. You won’t be climbing Alpe d’Huez on one of these. But, if anyone would like to generously fund the attempt, I’d give it go!
They have a grip-shifter with three speeds. The top gear is good for rolling along on the level and used most of the time. The middle gear was about as low as the gearing I used to climb L’Alpe. It was good for getting those 50lbs rolling. I didn’t use the lowest gear that seemed more appropriate for stump pulling. All in all, they were quite practical and well-suited to their purpose.
How was riding in Paris traffic? No problems for me and quite enjoyable. But asking someone who has cycled in Washington, DC rush hour traffic for decades means my answer may not be applicable to you. Certainly, it was better than at home. Within the first two miles of riding on my return to the DC area, someone failed to yield the right of way to me. Nothing similar happened all day in Paris. Oh, and don’t be looking at the sites as you ride.
The on-street accommodations were also better in Paris. When there was a bike lane, it was physically separated from other lanes. This contrasts with the silly, if they weren’t dangerous, painted lines in the DC area that endanger cyclists by putting them next to parked cars and reinforce motorists ignorance of cyclists right to the road. When there wasn’t a bike lane, the bus lane was designated for bicycle use.
All the major traffic circles seemed to have designated bike lanes around them although they tended to put you with pedestrians. Being me, I usually just mixed it up with the traffic at the circles. I wouldn’t recommend that unless you’re experienced and fearless.
Were there any problems? Wear and tear is showing on some bikes, e.g. a broken shifter, soft tire, bent wheel. If the bike had a problem, I stopped at the next station and swapped for another bike. Check out the bike you are going to use before choosing and removing. Calling and reporting problems is the right thing to do but my French was not good enough to so.
While there are many stations, you still should take a map of them with you. If not, you’ll walk or ride around a bit to find one since they aren’t all on the main streets. I didn’t have one and used the map of nearby locations at each station. When leaving a bike to walk around, I’d note the location of nearby stations. On the bike, going from station to station checking the maps got me to where I was going and to a drop-off station. Inefficient but effective.
There was a station kiosk with a display that didn’t work. I could not get a bike although I had returned one there earlier. With lots of stations, I used the map and went to one nearby.
Bike distribution could be an issue although it wasn't for me. One station only had one bike left when I got there. At another, someone who wanted to return a bike had to wait until I came and removed one. I did see a truck moving bikes to a station with very few bikes so they have planned for this.
Overall, it was a great way to get around Paris and see new parts of the city. If you are touring various places in Paris and the weather is nice, give it try instead of the subway. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Paris has a shared and (almost) free bike transit system called Velib for picking up and dropping off bikes throughout the city. There are hundreds of stations throughout Paris with most no more than 300 yards apart. You pickup a bike, ride to your destination and drop it off. When you’re ready to move on, you pick up another bike and go on to your next destination.
I used Velib bikes to cover over 20 miles in one stupidly ambitious day of sightseeing. Using the Velib bikes is recommended; doing 20 miles in a day isn’t.
 |
My folding bike was available but I chose not to use it. For one thing, it was all packed up and ready for the flight back the next day. And the Velib bikes gave me the freedom to drop off a bike one place, walk around and then just pick up another. With my bike I would have had to lock it and worry about it. And I would have had to return to it. With the Velib system, I simply found the nearest station and grabbed another bike.
How does the system work? For the tourist, you purchase a 1 or 7 day pass at any of the kiosks for about $1.50 or $7.50. The first half-hour of use of a bike is free so $1.50 is all I paid to get around Paris all day. There is an English language option on the terminals although I didn’t notice or use it at first. Sign up was quick and easy. After you agree to the terms and swipe your card, you select a PIN and are then given a print out with an account number. To get a bike, enter the account number and PIN, choose your bike and remove it from the rack. To drop off, just place your bike into a rack and be sure to wait until the blinking light turns green to confirm the return.
For US tourists, an American Express card seems to be the only one that works with the system. Mastercard and Visa do not. I requested an Amex Blue card that has a RFID chip just to try these bikes and had no issues. By swiping the card, the system can charge you if you keep a bike for more than ½ hour as well as hold you responsible if you fail to return the bike ($150).
Having users sign-up makes this bike sharing system different from the free shared bicycle programs tried in various cities (Amsterdam, Portland, Cambridge). Vandalism and theft were issues with such programs. Programs similar to Velib have been started in Washington, Barcelona, Lyon and other cities.
What about the bicycles? These aren’t sub-20 pound racing bikes.
 |
They are sturdy and fat tired with a basket, lights, a little bell and a broad seat. A quick release permits adjustment of the seat height. My guess is they weigh about 50 pounds. You won’t be climbing Alpe d’Huez on one of these. But, if anyone would like to generously fund the attempt, I’d give it go!
They have a grip-shifter with three speeds. The top gear is good for rolling along on the level and used most of the time. The middle gear was about as low as the gearing I used to climb L’Alpe. It was good for getting those 50lbs rolling. I didn’t use the lowest gear that seemed more appropriate for stump pulling. All in all, they were quite practical and well-suited to their purpose.
How was riding in Paris traffic? No problems for me and quite enjoyable. But asking someone who has cycled in Washington, DC rush hour traffic for decades means my answer may not be applicable to you. Certainly, it was better than at home. Within the first two miles of riding on my return to the DC area, someone failed to yield the right of way to me. Nothing similar happened all day in Paris. Oh, and don’t be looking at the sites as you ride.
The on-street accommodations were also better in Paris. When there was a bike lane, it was physically separated from other lanes. This contrasts with the silly, if they weren’t dangerous, painted lines in the DC area that endanger cyclists by putting them next to parked cars and reinforce motorists ignorance of cyclists right to the road. When there wasn’t a bike lane, the bus lane was designated for bicycle use.
All the major traffic circles seemed to have designated bike lanes around them although they tended to put you with pedestrians. Being me, I usually just mixed it up with the traffic at the circles. I wouldn’t recommend that unless you’re experienced and fearless.
Were there any problems? Wear and tear is showing on some bikes, e.g. a broken shifter, soft tire, bent wheel. If the bike had a problem, I stopped at the next station and swapped for another bike. Check out the bike you are going to use before choosing and removing. Calling and reporting problems is the right thing to do but my French was not good enough to so.
While there are many stations, you still should take a map of them with you. If not, you’ll walk or ride around a bit to find one since they aren’t all on the main streets. I didn’t have one and used the map of nearby locations at each station. When leaving a bike to walk around, I’d note the location of nearby stations. On the bike, going from station to station checking the maps got me to where I was going and to a drop-off station. Inefficient but effective.
There was a station kiosk with a display that didn’t work. I could not get a bike although I had returned one there earlier. With lots of stations, I used the map and went to one nearby.
Bike distribution could be an issue although it wasn't for me. One station only had one bike left when I got there. At another, someone who wanted to return a bike had to wait until I came and removed one. I did see a truck moving bikes to a station with very few bikes so they have planned for this.
Overall, it was a great way to get around Paris and see new parts of the city. If you are touring various places in Paris and the weather is nice, give it try instead of the subway. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
French
A potential benefit from this trip was some improvement in my French. In past trips, Deborah has been there, when my basic French skills faltered, to carry on the conversation. She speaks French quite well having spent time as a student in France and French speaking Switzerland. I was looking forward to being forced to survive without her language skills and improve a little. Performing technical support in French, as was to happen, wasn’t on the list of things to master.
Standard things like buying tickets, getting a meal, asking directions and so on went fairly well. There were a few awkward moments as expected. What to me was perfectly clear French was met with uncomprehending looks. But with repetition, gestures and pointing, those moments were easily overcome.
In general, the formality of the French in public, which some mistake for coldness or unfriendliness, works to the tourist’s advantage. The dialogs you learn in the language classes actually work: you greet, they greet and ask what you want, you say what you want, they acknowledge and ask if there is anything else, you say no thank you, they tell you how much, you pay, then you both say good-bye. Works like a charm until there are complications and you don’t know the words and phrases. But still, if you have made the effort in French and don’t bring an attitude, everyone I’ve met has been helpful.
While otherwise very nice, the Ecrins Mountain Lodge was not ideal for learning French as it is run by an English couple. That the other eight guests were from England meant that French language practice wasn’t a lodge activity at all. Although I became more confident in blurting out what seemed to me to be French, my language skills weren’t any better after the first five days in France.
I knew from email correspondence that my B&B host in Paris did not speak English very well. Her English was in fact comparable to my French. This meant that anything other than standard dialogs was going to be a challenge. Imagine then, if you will, the scene as we tried to debug the WiFi connection problems. I made feeble attempts to translate the technical questions I had into French. But her computer knowledge not surprisingly was non-existent. And gestures and pointing aren’t effective ways to communicate technically.
She presented their laptop and I tried to view its configuration. Although I’ve never used Microsoft Vista, let alone in French, I did find my way to the wireless network configuration. But telling her that someone with administrative rights needed to sign in for the configuration to be seen was futile. And so it was every other technical question that was in perfect English in my head. Near I as could tell, my laptop wasn’t getting a DHCP address. She kindly lent me her laptop and while it was working I was able to do the one post and send email to Deborah. But, by the time I left, their laptop’s DHCP address had apparently expired, wasn’t renewed and no connection could be made.
Had my French been better, maybe I could have traded technical consulting work for free lodging. Perhaps that should be my motivation for being more diligent in my French language lessons.
Standard things like buying tickets, getting a meal, asking directions and so on went fairly well. There were a few awkward moments as expected. What to me was perfectly clear French was met with uncomprehending looks. But with repetition, gestures and pointing, those moments were easily overcome.
In general, the formality of the French in public, which some mistake for coldness or unfriendliness, works to the tourist’s advantage. The dialogs you learn in the language classes actually work: you greet, they greet and ask what you want, you say what you want, they acknowledge and ask if there is anything else, you say no thank you, they tell you how much, you pay, then you both say good-bye. Works like a charm until there are complications and you don’t know the words and phrases. But still, if you have made the effort in French and don’t bring an attitude, everyone I’ve met has been helpful.
While otherwise very nice, the Ecrins Mountain Lodge was not ideal for learning French as it is run by an English couple. That the other eight guests were from England meant that French language practice wasn’t a lodge activity at all. Although I became more confident in blurting out what seemed to me to be French, my language skills weren’t any better after the first five days in France.
I knew from email correspondence that my B&B host in Paris did not speak English very well. Her English was in fact comparable to my French. This meant that anything other than standard dialogs was going to be a challenge. Imagine then, if you will, the scene as we tried to debug the WiFi connection problems. I made feeble attempts to translate the technical questions I had into French. But her computer knowledge not surprisingly was non-existent. And gestures and pointing aren’t effective ways to communicate technically.
She presented their laptop and I tried to view its configuration. Although I’ve never used Microsoft Vista, let alone in French, I did find my way to the wireless network configuration. But telling her that someone with administrative rights needed to sign in for the configuration to be seen was futile. And so it was every other technical question that was in perfect English in my head. Near I as could tell, my laptop wasn’t getting a DHCP address. She kindly lent me her laptop and while it was working I was able to do the one post and send email to Deborah. But, by the time I left, their laptop’s DHCP address had apparently expired, wasn’t renewed and no connection could be made.
Had my French been better, maybe I could have traded technical consulting work for free lodging. Perhaps that should be my motivation for being more diligent in my French language lessons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
