I made it to work, malgré the grève. First I went looking for a Velib' - someone was just taking the last one from the rack closest to our flat, so I crossed onto the isle st louis, where again I arrived fractionally too late to get the last Velib from the rack close to notre dame (that's the one I photographed). I must get an abonnement - you can just scan your abonnement card on the bike stand next to a free bike and ride away, instead of having to use the machine. Anyway, I crossed to the 5th looking around for another rack and eventually found some on the Rue st jacques. Negotiating the one-way system and roundabouts to get to porte d'orleans was a little trickier than I expected, but I got there in the end and I think I just got my bike back into a rack before the free half hour ran out.

From there, I found a bus that was running (they're on a 40% service today apparently) not exactly to the Bagneux RER, where my lab is, but to nearby, so I took that rather than waiting around and then walked the rest of the way. The bus was absolutley rammed of course, and everyone was unfolding maps and looking at plans on their mobile phones to try to work out where the bus was taking them. It took about 1 hour 15 to get to work instead of the usual 45 minutes, so not too bad. Once the buses are running properly, I might even choose to take a Velib' - it's kind of fun to ride through Paris and the main road has a cycle lane most of the way.

Now all I have to do is get home again..