European Motorbike Trip - Helsinki, Finland to Lisbon, Portugal: Day 7

And just like that one week has gone past. We have travelled thousands of Kms and we find ourselves in Paris, France. Today would be our last full day in Paris and we plan to visit a number of well known Paris landmarks. The day will finish with a barbecue at a friend's house.

We wake up and weather is much better than 24 hours ago which is great for the day we have in mind. While Paula is getting ready I go out to the corner brasserie and buy 2 baguettes and a couple of French pastries and we sit down in courtyard enjoying our breakfast. Paula also takes some time to prepare postcards to send to family.

We then saddle up and start our tour of Paris taking pictures of some of the very well known sights.

Paris is divided into a number of different areas or as the French call it ... Arrondissements.

The city of Paris is divided in 20 arrondissements. The first one is in the center, the following ones spiral outwards in a clock-wise direction. Most of the famous tourist attractions can be found in one of the central 8 arrondissements.

The arrondissements are encircled by the périphérique, a ring highway. Outside the périphérique are the banlieues, the suburbs of Paris. Here is a concise overview of the 20 arrondissements and their most important sights and attractions.

At the Trocadero (this is an area in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower) we were able to stage the bike in a great location and take some very nice pictures.

You see and meet the most amazing people in trips. As an example here is a picture of a couple of the Harlem Globetrotters. The Harlem Globetrotters is an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The tall one is Tiny Sturgess. Tiny was born in England and is the tallest globetrotter ever at 7 feet and 8 inches (2.36 m) and guess what is his signature move ... the no jump dunk, obviously !

For lunch we went back to the Champs Élysées and looked for another esplanade so we could eat and also experience this beautiful street.

After lunch we got back on the bike and braved the Parisian traffic towards the The Île de la Cité which is one of two remaining natural islands in the Seine within the city of Paris (the other being the Île Saint-Louis). It is the centre of Paris and the location where the medieval city was refounded. Our goal ... visit Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral and Is one of the largest and most well known cathedrals in the world. For me though it is the home of Quasimodo (the deaf hunchback bell ringer) and his adoptive father Frollo (the Archdeacon of Notre Dame) who both fall in love with Esmeralda, the beautiful Gypsy who has a kind and generous heart. She wins Quasimodo's heart when she shows him human kindness when she gives him some water when he is being whipped and jeered by the crowd. Esmeralda who scorns Frollo's attempts to win her love and she herself falls in love with Captain of the King's Archers, Phoebus (who is engaged to the beautiful but somewhat spiteful Fleur-de-Lys). In a series of events too long to go into, Esmeralda is set up for murder attempt of Phoebus and becomes a fugitive. As Frollo, torn between his obsessive love and rules of the church, is not able to get her to love he betrays her and hands Esmeralda to the troops and she is hanged. Quasimodo's love and devotion for Frollo does Frollo no good when he is seen by Quasimodo laughing at Esmeralda death, and Quasimodo throws him down from the cathedral to his death. In a major show for love, Quasimodo dies of starvation as he lays next to Esmeralda's body. If you are asking yourself about Captain Phoebus, he goes on to marry Fleur-de-Lys. Victor Hugo wrote this novel between 1829-1831 and as you can see the plights of human nature have not changed much. Notre Dame was central to this novel for both the main setting and the focus of the story's themes. With the notable exception of Phoebus and Esmeralda's meeting, almost every major event in the novel takes place in the cathedral, atop the cathedral or can be witnessed by a character standing within or atop the cathedral. The Cathedral had fallen into disrepair at the time of writing, which Hugo wanted to point out.

We are happy to report that the Cathedral is not in despair and that over 13 million people visit it every year ... nearly 40,000 per day !

After spending time in Notre Dame (Paula was able to attend a mass that was going on while I waited outside looking at part of the 40k for that day and looked after the bike), we sat down in a typical French cafe and had some crepes ... ooh la la !

For the evening we went to have dinner at the home of one of my colleagues. He had invited two othe couples and the 8 of us had a great barbecue, spoke about living in Paris and in France. It was a great evening ... Merci Alain !

We then made our way back to Paris and Studio Amelie (our quaint apartment). We needed a good night sleep as we had a long way south the next day to Bordeaux and we still wanted to visit the Palais de Versailles and some castles on the way.

Our time in Paris was magic. A number of times I asked Paula, as this was her first time, if Paris was below, at or better than expectations and every time the answer was better. As I know that expectations have a strong tendency to adapt very fast this was an amazing answer and one I was very happy with. Paris had become my partner in making a special time for my life partner. For that I salute you Paris and as a special tribute to you, who better than Edith Piaf to sing about your many talents and beauties ... Merci Paris !