Ve'lib

Paris has implemented a new system of bike rentals around the city. Every 300 metres or so you can find bike stations where you can pick up a bike and then drop it off when you arrive at your destination.

Erik and I have tried it out a couple of times this past week, and have had a lot of fun with it. Despite the fact that it can easily take upwards of five minutes at the one ticket machine for each bike that you rent which means that there's always a line up, the bikes are comfortable, easy to ride, and convenient. There are two stations near our place, however we're less familiar with the locations in the rest of the city, and have spent some time either on bikes, or on foot looking for a point to pick them up or drop them off.

Anyway, in an attempt to speed things up for ourselves, we decided to get the year long pass, which you can have loaded on to your metro card. This should mean that we'll just have to swipe our passes directly at the bike instead of queing at the machine for a ticket.

But, because this is France, nothing is as easy as it seems.

I logged onto the Ve'lib website yesterday to sign up online, and proceeded to happily fill in the boxes while thinking about how easy it was.

Until I got to the last step.

Where it asked me to then print off all the information I had entered and send it to them in the mail.

At least in 15 days I'll be able to ride away from all my frustrations on a shiny rental bike.