Season 5. Episode 2. Paris to Giverny.

Season 5. Episode 2. Paris to Giverny. 

August 13, 2025. 62 miles. 

Cycling out of major cities is not usually easy. Paris was as good as it gets. The bike paths are generously wide and it helps that in August Parisians typically are on vacation so traffic was super light. 

I’ve been to Paris several times but had never seen some of its landmark buildings in such an early morning light as today. They looked different and I could have taken 20 photos in my first 5 minutes leaving the Latin Quarter, but I know from experience that we just can’t stop that often or we will arrive an hour later. 

Riding west on the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

Neither of us had been as far west in Paris as the commercial center known as La Defense. Surrounded by modern, glass and steel towers in a city is not unusual. But in Paris? It was an odd first for us and redefined our idea of the City of Lights.

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

About 20 miles west into our ride, lies Saint-Germain-En Laye. The chateau (castle) is from the 12th century and was home to the French monarchy far before Versailles. In fact Louis XIV was born here. And at one time British royalty lived here in exile. 

The royal gardens here were the introduction of formal gardens to France.

I plan all our routes in advance in the cycling app Ride with GPS. Commonly referred to as RWGPS. Its features are powerful and I’ve found it very reliable. You can see the percent paved or unpaved. It typically routes you to safer, quieter roads or actual bike paths where they exist. (On a few occasions I’ll check something in Google maps but Google is very unreliable on elevations.)

However, you cannot rely on RWGPS 100% as here it took us to a bridge that was literally out. If that wall had not been there, we would have been cycling faster and had our Thelma and Louise moment - and on day one!

Another view of the former bridge over the Seine.

We rode mostly paved surfaces but occasionally were on rough paths.

Pain au chocolat aux amandes (bread with chocolate and almond paste).

The dessert above at lunch was double moans on every bite. (Loyal readers of the blog know about my assessment of food and obsession with sweets all rated by how moan-worthy the item is.)  The almonds were a paste, almost marzipan-like. And because of Heather’s nut allergy, there was no sharing. I had to eat it all. So I now figured out what one of my biggest challenges in France will be. Albeit admittedly an elegant problem, how will I not gain a ton of weight (making cycling uphill even harder) eating my way through France. The bread alone here, and at every meal, is irresistible. 

There is a well marked path named Seine a velo. (Seine by bike)

Our route at many times followed the Seine, but at times when the river flows serpentine-like far off to the east, before running back west, we cut across the land to reduce our distance. The red line is where we came from and the blue line shows where we are going.

A view shortly before Giverny.

Our Airbnb was on “Street of the Jews”.

Per Google: It suggests a community in the area, likely during the medieval period. While the street's name remains, the Jewish population was expelled from France in 1306 by King Philip IV, and their property was confiscated.” Although France now has the third largest Jewish population in the world, there is none to speak of in Giverny presently.

And then a mere 20 yards from our address, while stopped and with both her feet on the ground, down she fell!

I was ahead of her and heard her yell behind me so didn’t see it. I turned immediately and I’m sure I asked if she was ok before I then asked if I could take a photo. Well, pretty sure. 

This was actually Heather’s fourth bike fall of the year. I’m wondering at what point do our kids bring up the topic of “taking her bike keys away”?

Giverny is all about being the home of Claude Monet. He basically popularized Impressionism painting and a visit to his house and gardens are a must. 

He actually was a passionate gardener who himself created the space. Heather rightly observed that the key to the visit is to imagine it without the throngs of visitors and the inspiration it must have provided him. 

Here’s a few pics. 

Monet’s famous lily pads.

Monet was interested in bikes and featured them in more than one painting. 

Girl on a bike by Monet.

Woman on a bike by Mark.

After an amazing dinner in the garden of the Ancien Hotel Baudy, we indulged. 

Coupe de Fraises façon Baudy (Fraises, Sirop Basilic Citron, Glace Vanille, Spéculoos, Chantilly).

Chantilly is such a more enticing word for whipped cream and we learned Spéculoos is very popular here and is crumbled Biscoff cookies. Or, as I call them, Delta (airline) cookies! My intimate relationship with Delta biscoff cookies was chronicled on our flight at the end of Season 1 when I told our flight attendant how much I loved them and she gifted me a full sleeve.

Flight home after our first cross-country bike trip. November 2021. 

By lucky coincidence just two weeks ago, the WSJ had a four part feature on Monet’s house and gardens and the enormous challenge of maintaining it now (as it was then) for the many thousands of annual visitors. 

Here is the QR code to that feature with so many interesting notes of what occurs behind the scenes.

© Copyright Mark Segal 2025.