Unlocked Media

A Jewish bakery in the Marais, i had a lox bagel and a latke.

For the working classes.

Somewhere on Boulevard St Martin.

My current view...

It was an amazing wedding for a lot of reasons, not least of which was the fact that almost everyone there was on holiday, so it was a multi-day party. My 87-year-old grandfather made it, as did his sisters (my great-aunts) who i've never met, from county Donegal in Ireland and from Cornwall in England.

The church wedding was 3:30pm Saturday, by 5pm we were drinking Creemore lagers from Ontario, Chimay grand réserve from Belgium, and a grand cru Champagne, at about 9pm we sat down for dinner, at midnight hit a crazy dessert buffet , and the badass bad-1980s-French-pop dance party didn't start until 1:30am. A few dozen people were still up to see sunrise. More stories later, i got to get to work...

Lots more pictures here that i took with Jonny's camera. Maybe some more video to come too.

I'm on the TGV going about 200km/h back to Paris now from the Loire valley, near where my sister was married. So fast that if i took a picture out the window it would be one big blur of sunflowers or wheat fields, which are currently in harvest. The 200km radius around Paris is actually France's most productive agricultural region, all in grain and oil seeds. I guess this means the holiday part of my trip is over, but that's OK.

Definitely one of the best bike stores in the world. Definitely the only one i've ever seen to specialize in bike touring, not to mention the old school style with lugged steel frames. I cracked and bought a fancy waterproof handlebar bag so that my camera will remain in close reach--otherwise i won't end up using it. One of the owners showed me a prototype frame made from Reynolds 953 tubing, which is stronger and lighter than titanium. Their bikes start at 2000 euros, up to 4500 for tandems, and have a geometry like a Rivendell (or i guess i should say that a Rivendell's geometry is inspired by this French style).

It was 36 degrees yesterday in Paris (that's about 97 F). I raced some scooters through 4 lanes of traffic on the Quai des Tuileres, the street that lines the right bank of the Seine, losing because the scooter drivers knew which lanes would have enough room to get in between cars stopped at traffic lights. It was fun as hell but after about 2km i was left with a lung full of the some of the most foul air i've ever breathed and i had to stop to catch my breath. I imagine when the Tour goes through there on Sunday the air will be cleaner, but in some ways i wish the peloton would experience that crap and make a proper stink about it. If any bikers have a voice, it's them.