Months before we went to Paris, we saw a woman wearing a shirt that said "Fat Tire Bike Tours: Paris". We made a note of it, said we'd look it up when we got home, and then promptly forgot. A couple of months before we left, I was leafing through a guidebook and Wil remembered the shirt. I turned the page to where my ring finger was "holding" a page... and read "Fat Tire Bike Tours". It was destiny!
We had talked about a bike tour of Paris, but then decided what we really wanted was their day trip to Versailles. So we booked it for our last full day in the city of light.
We met up at the office, picked out our bikes, and met our guide, Andrew. Andy talked us through the morning -- we ride as a group, we "take the street", and we stick together. Thus prepared, we rode to the RER station. A bit chaotic ... lots of different "strengths" and levels of confidence among the group. But we got to the station with plenty of time, and Andy coached us through what we would do. Basically, we were grouped in sets of 4, given pairs of bungee cords, and instructed to get on trains when the doors opened and then bungee our bikes together to the poles in the entryway. It was a little panicky when the train arrived, but we all got on board safely.
As we rode to Versailles, Andy worked the train, moving along to chat with the people on the tour. He also gave us the good news -- that Versailles was the end of the line, and that we'd have plenty of time to get off the train.
After arriving in Versailles, we regrouped, and then rode to the market to buy provisions. Andy had told us where the essential shops were -- the wine store, the cheese store, and (for us) the Lebanese store, where we could get tasty veggie options. I think all of us bought a week's worth of food. We came back to the bikes, strapped our picnics to our bike racks, and then set off for the palace.
We pedalled around the grounds -- lovely and flat -- stopping for photo ops in a few places. I started daydreaming about living near the palace and going for my runs in the park... Eventually we arrived at the far end of the Grand Canal -- and settled in for our amazing picnic. Great wine, great bread, great cheese, etc. etc. Lots of nice chatting with the sweet people on the tour.
I will say that the people on the tour were surprisingly nice -- perhaps because this is an active tour, rather than a standard bus tour. A couple who were on their honeymoon, another couple who had gotten engaged the night before,
Then we went for a bit more of a ride... and things got weird. We "lost" a couple of riders, there was some anxious chattering, and a few angry words. But in the end, we all made it to the entrance of the Chateau...
Going in to the Chateau... crowded, lots of shuffling, but amazing interiors... the hall of mirrors is justly amazing. We wandered around for a while, but soon tired of the heat and the crowds. Andy had made a point of telling us where he would be drinking while we were in the Chateau, so we made our way there and found a few other "tour"ists. We drank beer, swapped stories, and talked about football before going back to the bikes for our trip home.
Pretty uneventful trip back to Paris -- we were much better at getting the bikes on and off the train, and chatted with two nurses who were on holiday. We all rode back to the office, and then, somewhat anticlimactically, disbanded. It made me wish we had gone on one of the city tours -- because Fat Tire puts on a great tour -- and when we go back to Paris we'll definitely do it.
That night we wandered flaneur-style around Paris... lingering on the Pont des Arts. We loved all the people gathered on the bridge with picnics and guitars, and loved watching the Eiffel Tower go all sparkly. We even loved the Bateaux Mouche. But most of all, we just loved being in Paris together.
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