By Family Fun Researcher Billy Mitchell

For regular readers of this column who were expecting an article about BMX, let me apologize. It's true, we do the BMX thing and it's a whole pile-o-fun for the family, but something happened recently that really made an impact on our concept of family fun.

You see, we decided to pack up the kids and head for Europe. Now I know that a lot of people are saying, "What fun! Young children on an international flight!" but we did get through the 9 hour flight to London without a great deal of discomfort and I'll write about that another time.

What happened to us in Paris was a wonderful bit of fun for the whole family. My wife had found a website for a company called " Fat Tire Bike Tours " which conducts bicycle tours of Paris (and Barcelona and Berlin). She thought it looked like fun. I was skeptical. I had heard about the legendary traffic and crazy drivers in Paris and thought that pedaling in the city of lights would be anything but fun. She was right, and I was wrong.

The staff equipped us with comfortable cruisers with big fat tires (hence the name); one bike with a child-seat and one with a "tag-a-long" tandem for our five-year-old. We strapped on the helmets they provided and were off.

Four hours slipped by at a very comfortable pace. We saw most of the "touristy" sights of Paris in a most relaxed way, stopped for lunch in a garden café near the Louvre and covered a surprising amount of the city without breaking into a sweat!

Our guide, Jay, combined a casual, carefree air with seasoned caution and made us feel safe even as we navigated some very busy intersections. He shared his knowledge of the city and gave great suggestions for subsequent exploration.

And the cost? As the French would say "Phhhhh." (I think that's how they spell it.)

In the language of my country I would call it very good value.

Now, this column is not intended to be an advertisement for any business out there, but I have to endorse this particular company's combination of great service at reasonable cost with friendly staff and.well that's plenty in my reckoning!

Bill Mitchell is a father, actor, writer and comedian from BC. He'd like to do more fishing, canoeing, white-water rafting, hot-air ballooning and mountain biking, and probably will, once his youngest kids get a little bigger. You can find him on the web at www.blixner.com

 

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