Touring Paris by bicycle is now the thing to do! The city of Paris has just installed bicycle vending machines. Just picture yourself riding through the newly created 230 miles of bike lanes in Paris, peddling past the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe to the Tuileries Gardens
for a picnic with your baguette and cheese in the basket on your bike! Does life get much better?
Paris is making an effort to be more “green” and “tourist friendly”. This new program is called Velib (a combination of the French word for bike, velo, and liberty). There are 10,600 bikes throughout Paris and 750 stations! You can register online or use the vending machines at the stations located around Paris. The vending machines are in eight different languages – so no need to panic if you haven’t perfected the French language yet! Once you purchase your pass, you follow the instructions and pick your bike. The bike can only be used for half an hour; you will be charged if you keep the bike longer. However, you can always pick up another bike! So drop off your bike on the way into the Louvre, and after seeing the Mona Lisa, pick up a new bike and take off to visit Notre Dame! The possibilities are endless!
You can buy a year, week or day pass for the bikes. Passes can be purchased at the stations or online at: http://www.velib.paris.fr/.