Juliet with her newly rented Velib. There are hundreds of stations around Paris; pick up at one, drop off at another. Us tourists have to buy tickets online; residents buy a card that lasts all year. For a day, it's about $2 and if each individual rental is under 30 minutes you don't pay anything else; that's a reflection of the intended use of the system, which is for commuting and short trips. We took ours out for several hours, to ride through the Bois de Boulogne, so we had to pay a little extra. Still, for cost and convenience these are the best way to get around Paris.  And you get to ride in the dedicated bus lanes - or along special bike lanes - wherever possible, which is pretty awesome.

Juliet waiting for a dedicated bike signal to let her cross the busy street. The guy behind her is on a Velib too, as is the woman behind him.    

And here's me, with my helmet safely in my basket. Juliet and I might be the only two people who wore helmets on our Velibs yesterday.

Juliet comments: Best part of day was biking in the huge city park, Bois de Boulogne.  Quiet, rambling woodlands and creeks, bike paths and walking trails throughout, lush and green.  Birdsong and birds! You wouldn't know you're in one of the biggest, densest cities in the world.  Confirmed our standing travel conclusion that the places we immediately head to in any cities we visit are the parks - think Central Park in New York, Stanley Park in Vancouver - and they are always among our favorite experiences there.

Oh, and Roland Garros tennis center sits at the southern end of the park.  Vainly looked for signs of Roger Federer, due to start playing in the French Open this weekend.  No luck.  Not that I'm stalking or anything.  Will have to wait for the US Open in New York this fall.

Worst moments of the day:  biking the Champs-Elysees on our way TO the Bois de Boulogne...capped by navigating the massive rotary at the Arc de Triomphe.  Multiple lanes of crazy, hectic traffic, no dedicated bike or bus lane on this stretch, and a lot of really REALLY angry drivers who clearly don't subscribe to even the most basic road rules. My Boston natives and friends will understand:  the sensation was much like driving at rush hour on the Southeast Expressway (before the improvements of the last decade) - except that you are on a BICYCLE.  Yeah.  That's right.  And trying to outgun one of these motorists to get across three lanes in relentless rotary traffic, using pedal technology?  Um...fun if you're into the whole death wish thing.  Single best reason for being geeky enough to wear helmets (noted above).

We took some photographs of each other photographing each other on this happening spot on Rue Moffetard.  Lots of students, plenty of tourists too. 

Here's a restaurant right near where I took that last photo, but a couple of hours later, around 10:30 PM on a Thursday night. I tell ya, this area is hopping. 

At restaurant Lucia, in the 5th Arrondisement.  Good, simple Italian food 

After dinner we got crepes, of course. This guy was much more generous with the Nutella than last night's guy was.

After crepes we got gelato, to help wash down the nutella. Three flavors, all good.

On the way home we saw a movie being filmed.  These are people standing around in an odd composition while the film is shot in the background.

In spite of the impression from the above, we did do a little bit besides eat. For one thing, we went to an art exhibit called "Beaute Animale," showing animals in Western art from the 15th century to the present.  No photos of that but we liked it a lot; amazing range of styles and approaches to the portrayal of animals, from the scientific studies and observational techniques of a whole group of artists, to much more stylized and evocative imagery as perceptions of animals changed.  Even had a Jeff Koons poodle sculpture in the exhibit.  Pretty much how you'd imagine a Jeff Koons poodle sculpture would be.

Just in case you were worried (I can almost sense the concern from here), we did make the requisite pilgrimage to the Eiffel Tower ("oooh, aaahhh"), along with accompanying photo of Juliet/Phil with tower in background.  Looks pretty much like every picture you've seen of anyone you know standing somewhere in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower.  No need to repeat here.  Far more notable is that Phil returned this morning to actually climb up the stairs; got as far as is allowed, which is quite a lot of stairs.  He can come up with an estimate, I'm sure (he's a statistician - it's his job).  In fairness, seeing the tower's engineering and structural work up close is pretty damn impressive.

One more day here, then we're off to Passau and the Danube Cycle Way through Austria and Hungary...