Lucern Cycle Chic

I was particularly taken with this decorated bike I saw by the Lucern Train Station in Switzerland.
 

more children on bicycles in Paris

Likewise, here's more support of my statement about more children riding on bicycles in Paris.
 

Helmets in Paris

I was worried no one would believe me that people are wearing helmets all over Paris. Here are a few more photos as proof.
 

 

 

adventures with my baby: at long last

C found her feet in Mallorca,
 

learned to roll over in Poitou,
 

(1)
and outgrew all her clothes in Switzerland.
 

What an adventure! We’ve been home now for some time, but it’s been madness, I tell you, madness, and I’m just getting to finishing up our story now.

After Switzerland, we returned to the dirty, delicious bicycle city that Paris is now. I noticed more people on their own bikes (as opposed to Velib, the City's bike share system)
 

more children on bikes,
 

and a lot of helmets.
 

Parisiens didn’t used to wear helmets because it would mess up their hair. Now, I guess athleticism is in style, for one thing, and for another, they’ve discovered Nutcase (I'll dig up a photo but can't put my fingers on one now).

My Parisiens have always walked for exercise. But now the city is filled with wayfinding signage, a campaign to promote walking for health. Of course, it’s French; so, it’s beautiful.
 

 

Another difference I noticed this time is more English being spoken. Not only that, but a lot of graffiti was in English too. J pointed out that a lot of the graffiti she’s seen appeared to be a string of English words that made no sense. But what’s changed? G burned me a CD of French musicians singing in English, another new phenomenon. They used to sound silly, my friends claimed, and now they sound good. The Euro? Economic collapse? C, of course, continues to prefer bad music. Alas!

Paris real estate prices have gone the way of San Francisco's. Theory or fact: people want to put their money in something concrete because the stock market is unreliable. Tina told me that their apartment had appreciated like 50% in the 6 months since they bought it (exact number not available).

Flight home, I watched No Strings Attached which I had kinda wanted to see (I love bad romantic comedy), but I found it to be completely charmless. Also, the main characters’ first hookup is not realistic because of a basic bad breath issue. It’s as if the writers/directors had never known anyone who had an all-night bender. It makes people’s breath stink (duh!), which makes other people not want to have sex with them. (Double duh!)

(1) This photo was actually shot in Paris.