Last summer while in Paris, I found out that one can rent a Velib, a public bike free for 30 mins. They look good and are available almost on every block. After first 3o mins must pay by credit card. The only trouble was that the machine did not accept American credit cards nor cash. Imagine bikig in Paris on quiet Sunday morning! What a delight it would have been. I even went to the main tourist office and they confirmed - must have an European credit card. Any idea how to obtain a European credit card in the US? On Samatha Brown's Paris episode, she rented a Velib. She did not mention how she paid for it. One would like to get an explanation.