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Post by Jazz on May 3, 2010 14:56:02 GMT
Bruce, a beautiful and well written thread. I hadn’t realized how close St. Maur is to Paris and your essay has been saved for my next trip. Time to explore out of Paris on day trips, but I need to get in shape if I go by bicycle. Les banlieue do have a reputation of not being umm...'enchanting', but this gives a fresh and inviting perspective. I would love to spend an evening at a guinguette!, although I doubt that it would have the ambiance of a hundred years ago. There is so much to absorb in your thread, but for now I want to comment on two buildings. The ‘recycled’ building from Les Halles intrigues me. I am still in some bizarre state of grief that the market was dismantled before I ever got to go there, rats, smell and all. I wouldn’t have cared! My fantasy is to have had breakfast with the market people before they opened, then shopped at dawn. I have seen old photos and read about it and it intrigues me. Thank god they recycled some of the old buildings, although I’m disappointed that it isn’t a market. The interior shot…talk about ‘juxtaposition’ of two different worlds! But, it’s beautiful, isn’t it? The Moulin Saulnier is a wonderful exterior design. I looked at your website and it’s also been saved. You have designed it well. The selection of possible tours, as well as the possibility of ‘custom’, is excellent. For the ‘out of Paris’ tours, I like the idea of staying in a private home, unusual and intriguing. Your prices are very good and you limit numbers to 7 people. Because of the common outrageous prices, I usually do my own ‘tours’, but the flaw with this is that given that I am unaware of many things, I walk on by, oblivious to some special treasures. Also, I don’t like crowds, 7 is more than enough for me. Thus far, your only competition would be ParisWalks…but they take up to 20 people and their tours are far too predictable for me. Bonne chance, et je pense qu'il est important d'etre patient. Merci, mystique.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on May 3, 2010 14:57:39 GMT
Thanks for the tips about bringing bikes on trains kerouac. I forgot to mention that. I haven't done it myself but I notice that usually the first car, the last 2 cars and one or two cars in the middle of the train have the pictogram showing a bike inside a circle.
Auntieannie, you will love this ride. Since the weather has been nice I do it about twice a week and never tire of it.
Lagatta, I live in Saint-Maur so my bike is locked up in the basement safe and sound when I am asleep. And indeed, the suburbs ringing Paris are not all the places of horror that some make them out to be. At least on the ride I am describing I have found all the towns on the route (or at least portions of them) to be pleasant enough.
FMT
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Post by fumobici on May 3, 2010 15:30:43 GMT
Being a bikie, I'm now terminally curious what sort of bike would be subject to such attention in greater Paris. I'm picturing something romantic and very French like a Alex Singer or René Herse randonneur but it's probably something made of carbon fiber in China with a prestigious decal on it nowadays I suppose.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2010 16:43:33 GMT
Fumobici, some of the bikes of Lance Armstrong's team were stolen last year. That might explain the mystery. ;D
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Post by bjd on May 3, 2010 16:47:30 GMT
I think any and all kinds of bikes get stolen in France.
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Post by lagatta on May 3, 2010 19:07:56 GMT
Yes, your website is attractively and simply designed - no Flash to wade through, no cheesy music. Sounds like an interesting business concept. Not that I'd be interested in guided tours when in France, but it could be a real boon to some people who don't speak French, and hate large-group tours. Do you speak any other languages than English or French?
bjd, also in Amsterdam. Even hulks of junk held together with wire get stolen there.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on May 3, 2010 19:33:05 GMT
Thanks for all the comments everyone. For those of you who live out of country and are bike fans, I'd be happy to show anyone around by bike if you plan on coming here. I will generally ride anywhere that is within a 3 hour ride from my house and think nothing of spending 6-8 hours on my bike, at a reasonable pace of course. It sounds like a lot but the area in and around Paris is relatively flat with few challenging slopes. Although there certainly are exceptions, such as when I rode to Malmaison last week and was confronted with an Everest like challenge once I hit St. Cloud. The upside to this was that after I mounted this monster it was all downhill to Malmaison. But riding to Versailles, for example, is a fairly easy ride and only takes about an hour once you cross Le Pont du Garigliano.
Jazz, thanks for reviewing and complimenting my website. We expect it is going to take a while for the business to work. We've been working on the concept for the last few years and we're sure it's a good one. The problem right now is being found on the web. There's so many travel sites that we just get buried. We are confident that once we do get the first few tours booked that word of mouth from customers should take care of the rest. I know that sounds bold but I really am that confident in what we are doing. We just need our break. Do the Paris Walks people do week long tours? We do offer that type of day tour service around Paris on our site but it's more of an afterthought. Our real focus is week long trips. We are aware of a few of the companies that offer similar type week long tours but not with our concept and not the way we do it. And they are all generally much more expensive than we are. I've spent on average 5 weeks a year in France since 2002 and my wife grew up here so we are both well traveled in the regions we cover and we know most of what there is to see and do. Most importantly, we know how to present it to people in a way that they will enjoy. I look forward to seeing you over here someday and we'll do lunch at Chez Gegene and then head over to the Pavillon Baltard. Thanks again for your encouraging words.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 3, 2010 19:36:22 GMT
;D, FrnchMstqTr (re: "cheese", previous page)
;D, Kerouac!
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Post by cristina on May 4, 2010 6:16:10 GMT
Bruce, Your photos and dialogue are really wonderful. You really make me want to be there right this moment. I am in the tentative planning stages of a trip to Madrid and (some parts of) France for next Spring. I had a too-short visit to Paris last Fall and want to see more. You have inspired me to think beyond the what I might have normally considered for my visit. You've also inspired me to get into "long-haul" bicycle shape.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on May 4, 2010 14:56:22 GMT
Thanks Cristina. I'd be happy to bike with you if you want. Just let me know.
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Post by Jazz on May 5, 2010 0:15:46 GMT
Frenchmystique, I agree with you that word of mouth is the very best. Out of curiosity, I googled ‘Touring companies in France’ and came up with 24,700,000 pages, eek! It is very rare that I ever take tours because they are usually too expensive, too predictable, too crowded and I am very autonomous (selfish?) and don’t like being ‘herded’. My apologies for leaping to post before I looked more closely at your site. The reason I mentioned ParisWalks was because I looked at your 2 hour Paris tour. No, they only do Paris tours, but are highly regarded as excellent value and are often mentioned on travel sites. Looking more closely at your focus of week long trips (especially the Provence tour), the only place I’ve spent time out of Paris, one week, so that I could realistically compare….again, your tours are very good value and I love how you put the week together. I’m not sure re: the forum rules how much I should discuss this, so I am going to PM you with a more detailed impression. Somehow, I have the feeling that I will meet you and your wife one day.
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2010 20:36:08 GMT
There are a number of places to rent a bike for the day. I'm no expert on the subject, but the yellow pages (which exist also in English version) are a great resource for such things.
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2010 20:37:10 GMT
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Post by Nukesafe on Feb 3, 2011 22:32:59 GMT
What a lovely article! It brings back memories of doing the Marne in a canal boat. We admired the same scenery as we passed by - much more slowly than you on your bike. We also took turns riding ahead to locks on the onboard bikes, and solved the theft problems by putting the cycles back aboard at night.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on Feb 4, 2011 0:47:23 GMT
Thanks nukesafe. I still love doing this ride after having done it a couple dozen times. And I've probably ridden just the river around my town and nearby Créteil about a hundred times. I have a future offer from someone who lives on a barge in Paris to go up the river someday. Looking forward to it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2011 10:38:13 GMT
Right now is one of the best seasons for an excursion like this!
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Post by sojoh on Aug 24, 2011 11:05:09 GMT
If you're the kind of person who enjoys biking but just wishes there wasn't all that strenuous and annoying exercise involved then I've got a great bike ride for you. The first sentence of this report is what captured my attention! I've been wanting to see the Menier factory in Noisiel and a bicycle trip looks like the perfect way to do it.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on Aug 25, 2011 23:51:03 GMT
Hi sojoh,
Nice to hear from you. You know, if you'd like I'd be happy to take you on a bike ride along the Marne out to Noisiel. I've even got an extra bike you can ride if you don't own one. Just drop me a line and whenever you'd like we can take a trip out there anytime. As a matter of fact, if you'd like to join me for a little ride in the countryside outside of Paris we can do that too. I'm always happy to meet people from the forums and I've got loads of free time on my hands so just let me know when you want to go and we'll be off. Look forward to hearing back from you.
Bruce
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Post by sojoh on Aug 26, 2011 19:58:50 GMT
Thanks for the very kind offer, Bruce! I'm sending you a pm.
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