scooter nation

with a price tag at the pumps roughly twice that of its canadian counterpart, little wonder that france is a nation of scooters and bikes. in fact, paris' main train stations all boast of enormous parking lots exclusively for scooters. also, a number of main arteries have been re-engineered to accomodate dedicated bike lanes. every couple of blocks, you will find fleets of self-serve bikes - no old beaters found here, we're talking relatively new, well-maintained hybrids - where a visa or monthly membership card is all it takes to unlock your trusty steed for a few hours. then, you simply return it to the fleet of your choice anywhere in the city. brilliant!

mind you, i'm still not sure i would risk life and limb riding a bike in a city like paris. as pepe le pew once said, "zeez french pee-poll and zayr cars...zay are cray-zee, no?" ok, so i might have taken a some artistic license with that quote...