A Paris Bike Ride as Pretty as a Picture

Alfred Sisley was a British citizen born in Paris in 1839.  As a child he displayed an almost innate sense of color and scale.  He later used these talents in his art and he began to paint in the Impressionist style that during his developing years was popular with his peers Renior and Pissarro.  Sisley returned to England often and created a number of works featuring the Thames.  Sisley became a master but much of his work at the time was overshadowed by Claude Monet.  He preferred to paint en plein air (outdoors) and chose his local surroundings as subjects.  In France, Sisley’s works included street scenes of Paris and the surrounding countryside.   One of his more popular subjects was the canals of Paris.  The canals offered the reflection of light and the movement of water.  

And Paris needed water.  Napoleon knew this and ordered the digging of canals in 1802.  Not only did the city need drinking water but it needed water to flush out its extensive sewer system.  The sewers of Paris were the first of their kind on earth and some historians credit the elaborate system with the beginning of the modern world.  The canals also brought goods by boat into Paris and indeed brought the world to the major, non-port city.  The moving fresh water also cut down on the diseases and illnesses that fed on stagnant, filthy water.  

The river Seine dominates Paris and it is the most well-known of the waterways but three canals enter Paris: Canal St. Martin, Canal St. Denis, and Canal de l'Ourcq. Each canal brought the water that renewed the sewer system, provided drinking water, supplied goods, and inspired artists like Sisley.

Paris is, well, Paris.  So how much better can it get.  Well the bicycle is making it better and some new and interesting bicycling policies are at work in the City of Light.  One is Paris Velib (“Bicycle Freedom”), a bike sharing program similar to the BIXI Bikes we have already blogged about in Montreal and other large North American cities.   Velib offers over 16,000 bikes at nearly 1,200 stations throughout the city.  Only Hangzhou in China offers more bikes for public use.  Paris has also unveiled Paris Respire (“Paris Breathe”) which is a new law that bans automobiles on certain streets on Sundays and holidays between 9 am and 5 pm so bike riders can pedal without any traffic interference.  At last count, the city was approaching 300 miles of bike lanes and routes throughout Paris.   

Paris wants to be known for bikes just as they are hoping the rest of the world can forget the city’s record number of bike thieves.  This is not the first time Paris created a bike share program.  In 1993 the city unveiled 300 bikes in a free, bike-share program.  Each one vanished the same day.   

Back to the canals…  They don’t see the boat traffic that they once did but they offer fantastic bike rides.  One of the more popular canal routes is along Canal de l’Ourcq.  The route begins in the city and follows the canal for 17 miles into idyllic countryside.  The ride commences in the urban jungle complete with the buildings, factories, people and graffiti.  As the ride moves along, trees begin to take shape, meadows appear and small towns with the requisite cafes welcome riders.  The canals offer rides and scenes worthy of the master strokes of Alfred Sisley.  They help make Paris, well, Paris.

Visit our website www.stickybottleteam.net for a Paris Velib video.