Ed Brill

Rolling in Paris?

So, in a little over a week, I'm leaving for Europe again....this time, (at least) Paris and Zurich.  The trip includes my first weekend away since China in March....with a customer meeting on Monday morning, it's pretty much unavoidable.  I'm trying to make the most of it.  My meeting in Paris is the 15th through the 17th.  Looking at the map, I figured that this might finally be the weekend for me to visit some family friends who live in Cluses, France, since it's sort of halfway between Paris and Zurich.  Makes sense.  Thus, the only decision was whether to TGV down to Cluses on Friday or on Saturday.  I've been to Paris many times, and while I really enjoy the city, I've never seen any other part of France.  Thus, it's a tough debate.
I think the debate gets solved if I can arrange to participate in a particular Parisian event on Friday night.  It's on the Travel Channel list of 101 things to do before you die which I have on my links page (of which I've done 25).  That thing is rollerblading through the streets of Paris, and it does indeed sound worthy of a place on that 101 things list.
This is not as simple a decision as it seems.  First, I'd have to schlep my rollerblades from the US, and then again in turn to Cluses, Zurich, and home (and possibly one other stop!).  I could consider renting, but two problems with that: 1) I'll be leaving for Cluses early on Saturday, thus no time to return the skates, and 2) as a lefty, I've modified my blades with the brake on the left foot.  Last time I rented blades, in NYC's Central Park, I was about 10 feet down the initial incline before I was down on the ground, trying to brake with the (brakeless) left foot....
The second factor is that the Paris Friday night skate is late on a Friday.  According to their website, the skate starts at 10 PM and goes to 1 AM.  Friday will be my fourth day in Europe, just about the time that I get really used to local time.  Aside -- the website doesn't look like it's been updated much in six months.  I hope that the meeting point and details are still accurate....It also gives me factor #3 -- how to get there.  From what I can tell on their site, there are challenges -- "Most of public areas are forbidden to skaters : metro, buses, big shops (except sport shops), museums of course. "
The final factor is that the skate is fast and unfamiliar.  I'm not in bad shape, but three hours of skating on unfamiliar streets may be a bit of a challenge.  To mitigate this last bit, I'm trying to find a colleague or friend of a colleague to go with me -- that will help in the unlikely event of any language issues as well.
Now, with all the thought and planning that has to go into doing this, I could end up hugely disappointed if it ends up being rainy/wet on Friday night the 18th.  Too hard to predict that right now.
What would you do? Any readers done this?  Mike W?  By the way, Mike, if I stay for Friday, then that might be our best shot for meeting for lunch or a coffee.  I can't decide whether to take the day off ... maybe see a museum I haven't seen before... or take advantage of being there and visit my colleagues in the office.   If I stay at all.   Hmmm.  I suppose there could be many worse decisions to make in life. :)