Paris - City of Light

Our heads still spinning from our last night in Barcelona, we boarded the last vintage train in Spain for the six hour ride to Arcachon, France and our waiting buddy Laurent. He'd been threatening to kill us for years for not coming out to visit him and his family and he'd been raving about the beauty of his new surroundings about an hour outside of Bordeaux. He wasn't kidding. Arcachon literally means "Arc of the Ocean" and it sits in a long cove protecting it from direct exposure to the ocean and giving it the nature of a secluded paradise. We spent three glorious rejuvenating days with Laurent and his family climbing the Dune du Pyla (Europe's largest natural sand dune), drinking wine straight from Bordeaux, and eating ourselves into a coma from fresh mussels, oysters, calamari and other "sea fruit" as they like to say. A quick stop in Bordeaux and we took the TGV up to Paris.

What a fantastic city. Wandered the streets in a thunderstorm, hid out in a tiny shack guarded by a tough lady behind Notre Dame (it's very important to tip for the loo!), discovered empty corridors of the Louvre piled to the ceiling with ancient artwork, stared out the window at the Eiffel Tower lit up at midnight, and ended up in a Brittown party at the Frog and Princess Pub on rue Princesse in St. Germain-des-prés (best burger in Paris award).

To see all those bikes pull up and take over that posh street, "civilians" jumping out of the way, must have thought a gang had arrived to wreck the joint! Haha... Huge thanks to everyone who came out and supported the event; Gaby from Wild Motorcycles, Charlotte and Marie-Aude from Poulain-Proust, the rulers from the 59 Club, Richard, Bertrand, Nico, and everyone else. Merci!

www.brittown.com