The Bois de Bologne!

 Sunday May 20th.
The Bois de Bologne is one of my favorite spots in Paris. We went through on one of the walks and I knew that I wanted to come back to spend a little more time there before the end of the program. So today Melissa and I brought a change of clothes to church and then after church we just threw on some pants, changed our shoes, and hopped onto the metro. After waiting a few minutes on the train we realized that it was broken down and wasn't going anywhere. The strange thing was that most of the people were just patiently waiting and it didn't seem to bother them that there was no estimation for when the line would be running again.. We decided to take a different route and got to the Bois without any more problems.
We were looking for the Jardin d'acclimation, because Melissa had researched it a little and read that we could ride horses, bikes, and boats there, so we decided to go check it out. Turns out it was a little amusement park for kids and you have to pay to get in. If I had kids with me I would have done it in a heartbeat, there was a little train to ride, a carousel, a playground, a petting zoo, and who knows what else. We asked the girl in the gift shop where we could rent bikes and she pointed us across the street.
We were excited that the bikes had cute little baskets. It was so much fun to get out onto the bike trails and explore.

taking a picture while riding a bike is not easy.

The first thing we came across was a sweet waterfall-not what you would expect  to see in Paris.

We saw a beautiful windmill in the distance and rode off to get a better look. Then, like 10 seconds later, it started pouring! We were completely drenched in a matter of seconds. We made it to the safe shelter of a tree where some other bikers and runners were waiting it out. One man said, "attention, il va pleuvoir." We thought that was hilarious..  Luckily it was a warm rain and actually kind of pleasant. At this point I was very grateful that I didn't bring my camera.

After the raining stopped a little we rode around the pretty windmill which happened to be right next to the horse racing tracks. It was definitely a side of Paris I had never seen.

It was definitely a memorable ride.

Next we rode over to the lake. On the way I passed this car and had to stop to take a picture. It was a nice little reminder of home.

We continued riding right next to the lake which was a little bit bumpy but really beautiful. We stopped to admire this little family of swans. It was precious. (What you can't tell from this picture is that you can see the eiffel tower just in the distance. it felt really out of place.)

Such a fun and memorable day!
xoxo Heather