After a restless sleep adjusting to the time change I wake up to Justin opening the door and saying “it’s 9:15!! we slept in!!”. You see, we were booked on a 10am bike tour meeting at 9:45 at the Cathedral de Notre Dame. So, after the shock we woke the kids, brushed our teeth got dressed and hopped in a taxi and made it there with time to spare.

Notre-Dame Cathedral Paris

The amazing bike tour let by our guide Christian took us to the following:

Hotel de Sens – A medieval city palace that was originally owned by the archbishops of Sens. It now houses the Forney art library. It was built between 1475 and 1507. There is still a cannonball embedded in the upper left of the front wall.

Hotel de Sens, the cannonball can be seen in the triangular area top left by the left turret.

Ancient City Wall – largest remaining part of the Philip II Augustus City wall now sits in the sports field of the Marais public school. The French king before leaving for the Third Crusade, ordered a stone wall to be built to protect the French capital in his absence. The right bank of the wall was fortified from 1190 to 1209 and was 2600 metres in length and the left bank from 1200 to 1215 was 2500 metres enclosing an area of 253 hectares. It stood between 6 and 8 metres high and 3 metres thick at the base.

Place de Vosges – the oldest planned square in Paris and one of the finest in the city where the homes are completely owned by individual families and each have a centre court yard which is unheard of in Paris.

Old residence of Victor Hugo – Is located in the Place de Vosges

Old residence of Victor Hugo.

Jim Morrison’s former residence – where he died.

Bastille Square – location of the 1830 revolution monument and the Canal St. Martin.

la Tour d’Argent – during the bike ride along the canal we stopped to look at the view of most expensive restaurant in Paris which was also the inspiration for “Gusteau’s” restaurant in the movie Ratatouille.

The Lovers Bridge – where all the locks are locked onto the bridge

The Palace of Justice

the Latin Quarter – we stopped for lunch and snacks.

Latin quarter for lunch.

Louvre – Biked along the grounds.

At the Louvre.

Chatelet/Les Halles – where the original food market was held for all the restaurants in Europe for hundreds of years. It was only in the 1970’s that it ceased to operate due to the outcry of locals because of the smell and rat problem.

The Rat Shop – another inspiration for the movie Ratatouille where there are dead rats hanging from traps in the window.

We then went back to the hotel for a rest. After a couple hours we cleaned ourselves up and headed on the metro to the Arc De Triomphe. Climbed the 278 steps to the top and took in the amazing view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

The 278 steps to the top of the Arc De Triomphe.

Finished off with a dinner near the Arc De Triomphe then metro back to our hotel as it was midnight by the team we returned.

View of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc De Triomphe.