After such great biking in Burgundy it was hard to head back to a city, even if that city was Paris. Thankfully we found a great hostel located in the heart of the Latin Quarter along one of the best streets in town. The oldest bar in Paris was right across the street and there were tons of great places to eat including one amazing Crepe place that we hit two out of three nights. The only problem we ran into was that in mid-August Paris is FULL of tourists. It was hard just to cross the street without being run over by a lady carrying a flag followed by a herd of twenty to thirty. We made the best of it by avoiding most of the tourist spots and instead just walking the city. Of course, there was plenty to see without waiting in line for two hours.

Our first day we opted for the Left Bank where we walked by lots of nice looking buildings lining the river.

And of course we moseyed under the Eiffel Tower, which is even more impressive than I expected.

That night we headed to bed after having the best Crepes of our lives. Before we got to sleep I got a whiff of something odd. Pretty soon we heard fire trucks and decided maybe we should evacuate. We grabbed our stuff and went down our four flights of stairs to the street to see that it was full of smoke. It took the firefighters about half an hour to figure out that it was coming from behind the building about six doors up from ours, and then they went to work. Luckily it was a small fire, but it did add a little spice to our night.

The next day we headed for the Right Bank where we walked past the Louvre. I saw the Mona Lisa through one of the windows so we didn't have to stand in line. That night we had a nice dinner out at a classic little Parisian Brasserie. Delish!

Our last day in Paris we spent the morning at Sacre Cour, a beautiful church built on a hill overlooking the city. We climbed the dome and had some great views. The city faded into the misty morning air as if it went on for ever.

We spent our day in Geneva riding the city's free lender bikes along the shores of beautiful Lake Geneva. Great weather and great bike lanes made it a nice trip. At our turnaround point we were watched the fastest sailboats I've ever seen, some really hot catamarans, race around the lake.

That night we were treated to one of the most spectacular sights in all of our travels, a fireworks show that defies description. Tens of thousands of spectators lined the city's lakefront to watch fireworks shot off from about a dozen barges. The fireworks were set to music coming from another barge with a huge sound system. The fireworks were amazing, with many varieties we had never seen before. Plus, the show was incredibly artistic. We watched the show from on of the bridges spanning the end of the lake, and a couple of times almost the entire sky around and directly above us was full of fireworks. The fireworks in Geneva are definitely on my short list of things to do before you die! Highly recommended.