Neither rain...nor hail...

...nor dearth of Velibs could stay us from an outing today! The skies were threatening, but we set forth anyway. None of our local Velib stations had any bikes -- either nobody came home last night, or the company that is supposed to redistrbute the bikes evenly throughout the city was still celebrating its May Day holiday. Eventually, though, we found two, and headed east toward the Bois de Vincennes.

After 20 minutes of cycling we made our usual stop for some petit dejeuner, this time by the Bastille, before continuing on our way out over the border of the city of Paris and into the Bois de Vincennes. Like the Bois de Boulogne, the land here was once a large fenced hunting forest. Today it's a vast woodland, filled with lakes, and home to a famous zoo, beautiful flower garden and a cycling racecourse. It's also home to a mighty chateau fortress built by Charles V in 1396. And it's a popular recreation spot for all Parisians.


We biked toward the chateau, following a road that runs along the edge of the Bois. Suddenly, the skies opened, and dashing for the shelter of the broad-leafed chestnut trees, we waited it out, along with various other cyclists, joggers and walkers.

The rain cloud passed over, but shortly after we started up again, another, much more violent weather cell bombarded us. Literally. I felt what I thought for a moment was a large bird dropping on my head, only to realize that it was a hailstone! It was back under the chestnut trees again! If you can, play this video. It will illustrate the intensity of the storm better than I can describe it!


Eventually it ended, and, feeling thoroughly damp and disheveled, we picked up our route once more, finally arriving in front of the chateau. Here we found a large crowd milling around, presumably waiting to go in, we thought. However, as we circled around the chateau parking area, looking for a Velib station to return the bikes, we began to notice some interesting vehicles.

First a row of several classic Royal Enfield motorcycles caught Matthew's attention, followed by this radical Suzuki. He was as riveted by this as the little boy in the red jacket!





Then, finally, this sign popped up and we discovered we had, quite by chance, stumbled upon the once-a-month Sunday vintage car and motorcycle gathering. Nothing that's particularly organized. Just a surprisingly large group of people who show up every month in front of the Chateau Vincennes, with their vehicles, park them -- vaguely grouped by type and model -- and then hang out, visiting, and sheltering from the rain showers! Luckily, the skies did clear, so we happily strolled through the throngs of people and vehicles under, suddenly, brilliant sunshine and blue skies.





American cars were pretty well represented. One whole section of the parking area was filled with Mustangs...


...whilst we also spotted several 'Vettes, quite a few Classic Chevrolets and De Sotos with their signature huge fins...


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..and this old Chrysler, with its beautiful white-walled tires and its enormously long hood. We wondered if it was one of the classic Pninfarina designs.






The Brits were in full force with lots of MGs and Jaguars and this very fancy gold Rolls Royce, almost overshadowing its neighbor, the equally classic Citroën Chapron.





Certainly, this group of enthusiasts spent a long time discussing the RR. We were particularly taken with Monsieur in the bow tie. With his eyebrows, moustache and walking cane, he seemed like a character out of a Jacques Tati movie.



Definitely the most unusual car in the gathering was this 1929 leather-covered car (!), driven by a nice young man, who shouted the make of the car as he was leaving, something that sounded like Rozagarra (?), but we've never heard of it...yet...




However, not surprising to those blog readers who know us well, the cars we most enjoyed were, of course, those built by the André Citroën Company, and here we were not disappointed.




Along with this beautifully restored Station Wagon...




...this gleaming 1932 model, being lovingly polished, or maybe dried after the rain...




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...we spotted what I consider the "ultimate" Citroën, the classic model "Le Traction Avant". Low slung chassis, sleek long, gleaming body. It speaks to me of a dashing generation of 1930 "flic" thriller films. Cheerfully flying the Tricolor, this car stole the show for me!



For Matthew, of course, THE car was the Citroën Maserati, and there were several of those for him to admire.





But what made his jaw truly drop was the sight of this 1949 Harley Davidson motorbike. The same year and model that he and his friend Walter rode around Baltimore in 1962. But guess who the owner invited to actually sit on it?! Feeling far from your average "biker chick" and more of a "hardly able person", I carefully swung my leg over the seat. In fact, the owner very gently helped me by holding my leg as I swung it, because he did not want anything to touch his gleaming, pristine paint job!



Meanwhile, the owner of the 1929 vintage Citroën parked next door, thinking Matthew might be feeling a bit left out, invited him to sit in his gorgeous vehicle, happily posing alongside. You gotta love the French and their fanatic enthusiasm for cars!


With more rain clouds threatening, we turned our bicycles back toward Paris, stopped for a Croque Monsieur in a café at Place Nation, returned the Velibs somewhere along the Grands Boulevards, strolled through a flea market, and still managed to get home in time for tea!


Yesterday being May 1st -- May Day -- the whole country celebrated with a national holiday. We missed the various parades that honor workers of all stripes and political persuasions, but we did get caught up in the exquisite little sprigs of lily-of-the-valley (both potted and in cut bunches) that were on sale throughout the city. Because May Day is considered a joyous occasion, and because le muguet represents "la bonheur" (happiness and good fortune), the two have, over the years, become inextricably linked to each other.

Many many thousands of these sweet sprigs are cultivated in nurseries before reaching the flower markets and street vendors in time for May 1st. One of our dinner guests brought me this pretty one last night. I had a special reason for being extra delighted with this gift: the lily-of-the-valley was my mother's favorite flower and I always think of her when I see them. So, I spent a lot of time yesterday thinking about my mother, and how another meaning of "bonheur" is the old fashioned word "felicity", and how that word so aptly described my mother!

À bientôt!