Paris Bike Ride @ Night

Probably the best way to see the city, period. Fat Tire Bike Tours holds day and evening bike rides led by American Expats in Paris. The company itself is based out of, where else-Austin, TX! It's such a neat alternative to the walk-abouts that everyone goes on and you can catch all the major sites you saw during the day-but also at night, which I have to say gives the city a whole new dimension. So I went on the ride very spur of the moment. I was actually at a wine tasting hosted by Olivier at O Chateau, enjoying the company of fellow travelers and 5 types of wine. A word about the tasting: funny as hell! Olivier is good-natured, good-humored and good-looking! What else could you want from a wine tasting in France? I highly recommend it! Plus, he's considering moving to Austin, which only adds to Olivier's awesomeness-I told him he should totally do it! Anyway, I was sitting next to two women, Sheila and Julie, who were going to go on a bike ride after the tasting and they invited me along. I am so glad they did because not only was the bike ride beautiful and our guide, Seth, a great guy, but we also got to ride a boat along the Seine with free-flowing bottles of wine at the end of the ride! Also, we had another lovely treat in store: as we rode through Ile de Cite we passed over the bridge to the smaller island of Ile St Louis where we had Berthillon ice cream: the most decadent ice cream you'll ever have with flavors like: pistachio, dark velvet chocolate and Grand Marnier. At this time my dinner consisted of 5 types of wine, some baguette and ice cream but they were the bests French wines a truly fresh french baguette and the most delicious ice cream in France. The best part: taking a few laps around the courtyard of the Louvre: so surreal and such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The only hitch was this: on the boat we pass under several footbridges, which was normally lovely, as the people walking ont he bridges would wave and smile. Normally. We passed under one bridge where a groups of teenagers thought it would be a good use of thier beer to pour some of their drinks onto the boat. Mind you, not much, but enough to make some people pour out their wine since it was contaminated. There was a huge cultural difference right there: I doubt you would ever see a Texan dump out a beer, much less on people just passing by. Not only because it's rude but hell, why waste a perfectly good beer? I was lucky and missed the spillage, but it was an unfortunate tale for some tourits to tell. Too bad too, since the French were behaving so nicely up to that point. Anyway, we all got over it and kept our hands over our wine whenever we passed under another bridge. Plus, the view helped. It was also a fabulous way to see the Eiffel Tower. I don't know why I hadn't thought about it before but I know every time I've been on a trip and took a bike ride/tour it's been a highlight. So, thanks again to Sheila and Julie for making sure I didn't miss out on this lovely evening!