Motorcycles

Another surprising thing about Paris is the number of motorcycles. Once I thought about it, I could see why they might make more sense in the city; they are probably easier to park and cheaper to run. I've gotten used to seeing lots of them around. However, this afternoon on my way home I saw (and heard) what seemed like every single motorcycle in Paris heading down Rue St. Antoine, horns honking. (Rue St. Antoine is part of my standard route home.) There must have been hundreds if not thousands of them.

I walked several blocks with motorcycles streaming by the whole way; when I got to the Monoprix to do some shopping, I could hear them going by outside for another 10 minutes or so. Then I went downstairs to finish my shopping; I was down there for a good 20 minutes or so, because it was Saturday evening and the place was packed. As I headed for the exit, I thought that surely all the motorcycles would be long gone, but when I got to the street, they were still going by. I had to dodge them to get across the street. I found a news story in a Paris paper online about motorcycles rallying to protest some new traffic law, so my best guess is that that's what it was all about, but my French is not good enough to figure out what the new law does. The news story said that 15,000 motorcyclists were rallying, a number I might treat with some skepticism if I hadn't seen a steady flow of them apparently going by for about half an hour.