Bonjour, mes amis!

[vifferman]

C'est vifferm'sieur ici; j'habite en Paris.
Or something....
Yup, here I am, dans un appartment in Rue St Louis en Isle. We've finished the Dutch part of our Yurpeen vacation, Take II (Take I having been scuppered last year by a faulty foofoo valve), and we're now enjoying the sights, sounds and smells (well.... most of them) of Paris, from our island hideaway on Isle Saint Louis, smack dab in the middle of the city. Four more nights and we're off to Provence in our brand new frogmobile, courtesy of Peugeot France.

Oh... here's the bike-relevant bit: bikes in Paris are mostly tres chic, but scroters rule, with superscroters being very common. The superscroterists are mostly mad/drunk/stoned though, and ride like maniacs, at insane speeds, weaving in and out of the traffic. Dunno what the French word for twat is, but most of them are. The kewl thing to do if you're a scroterist is to ride with one leg down. Dunno why.

Most proper bikes have aftermarket exhausts, seem to be immaculately cared for, and I've seen several fairly old but tidy Ducatis, BMWs, Triumphs, and even a very tidy vintage MV Agusta. No pics sorry..

Bye for now - I've important vacationing to do. :yes:

[Metastable]

Good to hear you are having fun. BTW, if you need a good B&B in Southern France, check out:
http://www.coupdecoeur.co.uk/
Motorcycle friendly Brit couple. The husband use to race 750 2 strokes back in the day.

[Ocean1]

Bye for now - I've important vacationing to do. :yes:

Enjoy, dude.

You planning on obtaining a boik for a day's trundle up the coast or someting?

[neels]

Tres bon!

The scooters in Paris are manic, and motorcyclists are funny the way they wave their right leg to say thanks when you let them pass, pop across the bridge to the really cool underground (and river) metro station by Notre Dame.

And have a glass of Haute Medoc for me while you're there.

[vifferman]

Today we caught the metro from St Michel to MontMartre for a mere 1.70 euro each. We wandered around MontMartre, Sacre Couer, and its environs. It ranged from a very seedy area on one side, with many dodgy-looking people and every second shop being a wig shop, to some very attractive and expensive appartments on the other.
Speaking of seedy, the area around Moulin Rouge is mostly sex shops and the like.

We caught another metro to Les Halles, did some window shopping, then walked back to Isle St Louis, bought some more lovely bread and cakes from our local boulangerie, some food for dinner, then back to our cosy appartment for some Leffe (me) and Rose (the vifferbabe).

[vifferman]

I was cut short by the vifferbabe, who went absolutely nuts at me daring to post on KB while on vacation.:spanking:
:Oops:

:o

Anyway, Paris was tres bien, and but for the prospect of further adventures, we were rather sorry to leave, having only just begun to feel almost-but-not-quite like bona fide Parisiennes after 5 days.
Getting to La Defense with all our luggage via the metro was a mission, as was humping it to Corbevoie in time to pick up our brand new Peugeot 308.

[MikeL]

Bonjour Vifferhomme!
Glad to read some (reasonably) positive comments about Paris. Great city. Great country. Great people! [gets ready to dodge flak]. It helps to speak a bit of the lingo. Here are some useful phrases to practise on the locals at the traffic lights:
Salaud! = Great-looking car you've got!
Espèce de sale con! = Let me compliment you on your driving!
Fils de putain! Nice weather today, isn't it!
Let me know how you get on.
Mike

[SPman]

Tres bon!

The scooters in Paris are manic, and motorcyclists are funny the way they wave their right leg to say thanks when you let them pass, pop across the bridge to the really cool underground (and river) metro station by Notre Dame.

And have a glass of Haute Medoc for me while you're there.
Would that be Chatre - pronounced Shat! - or maybe that's the one by the Louvre....The scooters are insane - we saw guys (and girls) drinking coffee, smoking, all whilst weaving through the traffic (including one running down a footpath) at hair raising speeds and the drivers just seem to shrug and let them get on with it! Also, they seem to park where they damn well like! No tickets, that I saw, either.

Today we caught the metro from St Michel to MontMartre for a mere 1.70 euro each. So - did you take the lift, or the stairs?

[sgtp]

Great people!

thats a funny way to describe a cheese-eating surrender-monkey




:sunny:

[MikeL]

a cheese-eating surrender-monkey

:sunny:

Yes, of course. How stupid of me. Forget the Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, Debussy, Descartes, the TGV, the A380, champagne and the rest of it. Nothing but garlic-smelling cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
Anglo-Saxon smugness about the events of June 1940 comes from the same self-delusion that calls Dunkirk a "victory".
It would be a shame to allow a bit of intelligent thought to spoil a good prejudice.

[Maha]

Oui mister le' hubba hubba.

[jaffaonajappa]

Paris. Great city. Great country. Great people! [gets ready to dodge flak].


No point trying to shoot a Troll....

Im sure we all know how great the French are....

[vifferman]

Okay... home at 5:30 this morning. Here's a quick summary: a week in the Netherlands: 5 nights on the Isle St Louis; a couple of nights in Epernay (including one where i crashed our two-day-old Peugeot slightlyish....); a night in a chateau in Guebwiller, and a visit to the awesome motor museum in Molsheim (after being told to piss off at the Bugatti one in the other place :facepalm:); a night in St Julien after a crappy day driving through the French countryside and trying unsuccessfully to get change for a 500-Euro note at every bank in Nimes; 5 nights in Avignon; 5 nights in Diano Marina in Italy, where we experienced our first real rain of the whole trip the very instant we crossed the border from France to Italy, and again at the exact instant we turned up at our lovely hotel, where a Honda NR owned by the hotelier was on display in the foyer!.
Need any further details or pics, just ask.
Don't ask about Suzie the crazy GPS though, or how many u-turns I had to do, or how many times I bounced off the right-hand curb trying to avoid Frenchman who can't keep to their side of the road. Or how many gelatos I ate (about 7, I think), or the numerous bottles of expensive wine we drank (only two - all the rest were less than 3Euro and very very good too...) or how many kilos of fat I added to my weight (about 3...)

[DR650gary]

Okay... home at 5:30 this morning. Here's a quick summary: a week in the Netherlands: 5 nights on the Isle St Louis; a couple of nights in Epernay (including one where i crashed our two-day-old Peugeot slightlyish....); a night in a chateau in Guebwiller, and a visit to the awesome motor museum in Molsheim (after being told to piss off at the Bugatti one in the other place :facepalm:); a night in St Julien after a crappy day driving through the French countryside and trying unsuccessfully to get change for a 500-Euro note at every bank in Nimes; 5 nights in Avignon; 5 nights in Diano Marina in Italy, where we experienced our first real rain of the whole trip the very instant we crossed the border from France to Italy, and again at the exact instant we turned up at our lovely hotel, where a Honda NR owned by the hotelier was on display in the foyer!.
Need any further details or pics, just ask.
Don't ask about Suzie the crazy GPS though, or how many u-turns I had to do, or how many times I bounced off the right-hand curb trying to avoid Frenchman who can't keep to their side of the road. Or how many gelatos I ate (about 7, I think), or the numerous bottles of expensive wine we drank (only two - all the rest were less than 3Euro and very very good too...) or how many kilos of fat I added to my weight (about 3...)

Leaving for that part of the world ourselves in 2 days :yes:

Please leave some wine and cheese for us :blink:

:sick: about the bloody volcano :shutup:

[Ocean1]

i crashed our two-day-old Peugeot slightlyish

It's not really adequate rewenge for blowing up a ship, but it's a start.

[Devil]

Ooo. Off to Paris on the 22nd of June :D Looking forward to it (and escaping our winter!).

[merv]

Cool thread.

As for those about to go over good luck with the volcano.

We were due to leave Paris 15 April last year and even went through passport control etc to sit on the plane and then after a long wait got sent back into the terminal to re-enter Paris because flights weren't leaving any more as the ash cloud made its mark. What followed was an extra 6 days on our holiday stuck on the other side of the world. Each morning was like ground hog day until there was a break in the wind and a slight easing of restrictions to allow flights to go again. The novelty of waiting had worn off by then. I wouldn't wish it on any of you.

[Devil]

That must have sucked. Looks like this one isn't going to be as much of an issue.

If shit happens and we're stuck there I have family in Paris, so it'd just be an extended holiday ;)

[DR650gary]

Bloody volcanoes! Off to AKL today the KL tomorrow before London on Friday. Fingers crossed, although there are worse places to be stuck than KL I suppose.

Will be in Paris from 26 June to 3 July as well, unless an ash cloud intervenes.

Leave us some wine please vifferman :innocent:

[vifferman]

Cool thread.

As for those about to go over good luck with the volcano.

We were due to leave Paris 15 April last year and even went through passport control etc to sit on the plane and then after a long wait got sent back into the terminal to re-enter Paris because flights weren't leaving any more as the ash cloud made its mark. What followed was an extra 6 days on our holiday stuck on the other side of the world. Each morning was like ground hog day until there was a break in the wind and a slight easing of restrictions to allow flights to go again. The novelty of waiting had worn off by then. I wouldn't wish it on any of you.
Dang.

Did I mention that this was a replacement trip for last year's one? We were supposed to be flying back from Yurp on June 28th, 2010, but unfortunately that was the day I was having my heart switched off and overhauled.

I'm back at work now, after our 33-day jaunt, and it sucks!
So cold!
So boring!

I'd only just got used to lazing about, sight-seeing, and eating properly delicious food. At least I can still drink wine, as the troglodytes left our wine cellar alone while we were gone. Shame it costs so much more - I'd just started to get used to the concept of 2 Euro bottles of wine...

The good news? I've actualy put on no weight, just lost a little muscle and put on some fat. The extra 3kg was fluid, courtesy of crappy circulation caused by writing off my last VFR a few years ago. A few aspirins and plenty of water, and it disappeared again.