As a Londoner and a keen cyclist I’m delighted to see that Mayor of London is honouring his pledge to install bikes to hire in London. As we say at various points in our London Mp3 Tour, Britain’s capital is a wonderful city but some of its most famous streets such as Piccadilly and Regent Street are ruined by traffic. Fewer cars would be great. A guide to London include these cycle stands would be great. As I writer of city guides for mp3cityguides.com I think every city should have them.
Whenever I visit Paris to update our Paris city guide to great monuments or our Paris audio tour of romantic Paris I always love to hire velib, as the Paris bikes are called. They’re well placed around the city and once you’ve got the hang of how to hire one it’s not too difficult.
Well, once you’ve got the hang that is, the first time I tried I had to get two Parisians to help me – it’s not at all clear and, at one point, I thought I’d spent a fortune on my credit card trying to release the bike. Luckily I hadn’t but I can only hope that when Boris Johnson’s bikes finally go live in London they’ll be easier to use.
Last time I was in Paris redoing our Paris Mp3 Tour I hired a Velib. There’s nothing like cycling in a big city – I went from the Isle de la Cite right up to the Maris in a matter of minutes. As long as you’re not too frightened about those terrifying Parisian drivers it’s just the best way to get around.

No Paris city break would be complete without a visit to the Champs Elysées.  It might be one of the most famous streets in the world with one of the most famous sights at the end of it – I’m thinking of the Arc de Triomphe, of course.  But, as we explain in our Paris Mp3 Tour, this great boulevard, which was first laid out by Catherine de Medici, is today full of deafening traffic, dreary international chain stores, gift shops and pick pockets.

As I say to anyone who is visiting Paris for the first time – have a look by all means but don’t expect much and don’t stop for a drink.  If you want a great view of the Arc de Triomphe, there are other avenues leading off the Etoile to choose from.  Our Paris audio guide gives the best bets.

But the noise and tourist schlock is about to be banished, at least temporarily, this weekend when the avenue of enchanted fields is turned into giant farmers market with fresh produce, greenery and shrubs.  I one for one will be interested to see how successful it is and whether demand from tourists and Parisians will bring it back.