Mido a Velib'

When I was 14, my family sent me to live with a French family in Paris who none of us had met. As it turned out, they didn't know I was coming and were expecting another little girl instead. So, both American little girls spent the summer with this French family. Today, the bonus child (me) visits them annually.

On my last day in Paris this year, we went to dinner near Nation. I had spent my day receiving a wonderful inside tour of the Vélib' program which included my very own Vélib' card even though I don't have the right kind of credit card to use the system (with that European chip). No one in my French family is enrolled in the Vélib' program. I used my complementary card to let my French mother, Mido, try out the bicycles. Look how stylish and perfectly Parisienne she is.

One of the reasons they don't use Vélib' is because they worry about riding on the streets with traffic. (We know that's just something you get used to.)

She loved it.

I think it was a little stressful for Mido's husband, adult daughter and son-in-law to watch her tootle around the wide Parisien streets.