A Paris cycling adventure

Stay in your lane and wait

You decide to stay in your lane and wait for the taxis to move. It doesn’t take long for the first one in line to finish unloading its passengers and zoom off down the Champs-Élysées. The other taxis shuffle forward, and you’re about to advance when another taxi swoops in, nearly grazing your front tire, and joins the queue.

You realise that the taxis are entering and leaving the curbside lane fairly quickly, but traffic isn’t exactly moving. They’ve made a de facto parking aisle and, well, who can blame them? There are hordes of fancy people wanting to be picked up and dropped off at various bars, bistros, and luxury shops. You wouldn’t expect all the taxis to wait for an actual parking spot to open up.

You gather your wits and slide into the adjacent lane, pedaling forward with gusto. In Paris the rules of the road are not so much rules, but guidelines, you remind yourself.

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You pass the Champs-Élysées—Clémenceau Metro station, with its imposing statue of a marching Charles de Gaulle. A vista opens up to your right, and you can see the glittering, ostentatious Alexandre III Bridge framing the gilded dome of the Hôtel des Invalides.

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You might fancy a nice bike ride along the Seine. But if you turn now, you’ll miss the Luxor Obelisk.

Continue straight toward the Obelisk or Turn right and cycle along the Seine

Sam Nabi