Fat Tire Bike Tour and Eiffel Tower

Here we are on Saturday, Jan. 2nd, all rested up and ready for our bike tour.  I have previously done a bike tour with this same company when I was in Barcelona, Spain in July 2009.  I also had a friend from college and my study abroad trip that worked for the company in Barcelona so I saw him when I was there.  The bike rides are very fun and not strenious in the least bit and they give you a little snippit of the highlights of the city.  The bike tour started at 11:00 am and we went straight to the office rather than meeting at the Eiffel Tower as suggested.  But we knew we were going to have to go to the office anyway to collect the bikes so Lauren and I figured why not cut out some walking time.  Turns out we missed a little big of facts and trivia on the Eiffel Tower but no big deal, that's what Wikipedia is for, haha!  Our tour guides name was John and he was actually from Houston!  Quite a few of the guides and staff are from Texas which is a plus, they even had a Texas flag hanging in the office!

That morning the sun was out shining so Lauren and I had thought we picked a great day to do the bike ride...wrong!  It actually started snowing right before we wheeled off, thankfully it stopped but the wind and cold didn't.  Our first stop was where Napolean went to military school.

Do you see the black divets?!  Well me either!  That's what our tour guide asked us and I think I was the only one that said no, and I'm pretty sure from there on out I was considered the black sheep of the group, but in all honesty I really didn't see what he was talking about, but apparently they are gun shot holes.  Onwards to the next stop we visited where Napoleon is actually buried.  The dome on top is actual gold.  It is 1 of 4 buildings here in Paris that has real gold on it.  Fancy Schmancy.

I believe the next leg of the trip was actually when Lauren almost took out an innocent pedestrian with her bike!  We did make it over to Pont Alexandre III without any casualties so that was a plus.  Pont Alexandre is considered to the be the most beautiful bridge in Paris as it is ornately adorned. 

In the first picture above, the building with the French flag on the top of it is the Grand Palais.  But the pillar i also part of the bridge, and the second pic is a piece of the artwork on the bridge as well.  The next stop we are told is lunch....yay!  We knew we were stopping off for lunch at a little cafe and we couldn't have been more thrilled for 2 reasons...one, we were really hungry and two, we were so cold and we would get a little break from the chill at the cafe.  Boy were we wrong!  The cafe we went to was actually in the park and all the seating was outside, ahhh!  Lauren and I made the best of it though, we each ordered a Croque Monsiur which is basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and it came with a little salad.  We each got a little coffee as well to try to warm us up.  After lunch we cycled over to the same place where the ferris wheel and obelisk are which we had already previously checked out.  But we did get some new info about one of the hotels that was in the square.  I can't remember the name of it, but it is the most expensive hotel in Paris.  The winner of the Tour de France gets a 1 week free stay there and you also get to hang your country's flag from the flagpole.  Fellow Texans will appreciate this next part.  We were told by our guide that when Lance Armstrong won his titles he didn't fly the American flag, but the TEXAS flag!

At this point we started winding down the tour and were heading back towars the Eiffel Tower.  We got a few cool shots of it and later Lauren and I walked over for a more up close and personal view.

After the bike ride we headed back over to my place to try and thaw out from the frigid cold we had encountered most of th day.  I believe that night we made our way back over to Corcoran's (are you seeing a trend yet?) where Lauren met her future husband Pablo.  I would give anything to have a picture of this man but sadly I don't.  Pablo started out normal and had some good conversation skills.  Turns out he is from Philly.  Well as the drinks continued to flow he expressed his undying love for Lauren and how he wanted to divorce his wife (whom was back at the hotel, might I add)!  I'm not sure if this was also the night we met our dear friend Veronique, but if it wasn't it still makes a good story.  Veronique was born a French citizen but she moved to the US at a young age and actually ended up marrying an American later on in life.  She has 3 grown children whom she hasn't seen in a few years because of her being deported, wait for it, 3 TIMES!  How does one get back into the country after being deported you ask?  Well she told us!  Apparently she did a sneak attack across the Mexican border at one point.  Nice lady but she had a lot of baggage!  Basically that's why we went to Corcoran's every night (and why i still do) is because typically it's never a dull evening!