LE STYLE
LUXURY CHRISTMAS issue
No. 08
December - March 2014 Your digital copy
STREET CULTURE
STREET CULTURE
PEDDLING THROUGH PARIS
PEDDLING THROUGH PARIS The first year was certainly challenging since nobody had business experience, and the weather was unusually rainy and cold which hurts a seasonal business. The family stuck together and perseverance paid off, and now their company is ranked as No. 1 of 382 activities in Paris by the Trip Advisor Popularity Index, clearly a 5 star business. Several bike tours are available including, of course, Paris landmarks, 12 great stops and lunch to boot (my personal favorite); Versailles, visit the chateau and gardens, and picnic along the Grand Canal; Paris Secrets; hidden, non-tourist treasures; and Paris at night, truly the “City of Lights”. If preplanned tours are not your think, then they’ll help you create your own. Give Blue Bike Tours your theme such as “The Amazing Race”, “Tour de Paris” or “Paris Gourmet Tour”; and they will fill-in all the details, delivering a lifetime experience. Enjoy a great biking tour and book your reservations on-line at www.bluebiketours-paris.com. By Terry Check
So many great sites to visit in Paris … Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral and the list goes on. It’s hard to decide “How best to see the sites”? Driving a car and finding parking are not enjoyable. Riding in a tour bus is like sightseeing from a fish bowl. Walking between the sites can be tiresome and slow. That’s why so many folks decide to ride a bike, remember the kind that you peddle. In recent years, Paris has implemented a bike sharing, city wide program of more than 14,000 bicycles and 1,200 bicycle stations together with designated paths along the streets. In the past years, riding a bike in Paris was dangerous. Today, the Parisian motorists share the roads with bikers … or should I say “tolerate bikers on the roads”. If a self-directed, biking tour is not to your liking … reading maps, getting lost and traveling on the wrong side of the road, then a guided bike tour may be your answer. Several companies offer bike tours, but the best company is Blue Bike Tours offering small group tours of 10 or less with friendly, knowledgeable guides. A special treat is the management trio: two Frenchmen brothers, Jean-Baptiste (JB) and Jean-Philippe (JP); and an American, Hava who married one of the brothers. In 2012, after many café discussions and glasses of wine, the family trio put aside their desk jobs to pursue their dream, sharing their love of Paris with visitors from around the world. The Blue Bike Tours Company became a reality as they filed for licenses and insurance, rented space in the parking garage of Gare d’Austerlitz train station doubling as office space; unpacked and assembled the signature blue bicycles and then proudly attached their logo plate, “Blue Bike Tours” onto each bike.
LE STYLE
LE STYLE