roxy and i were traveling together on a redeye to paris on wednesday night. our budget was tight so we booked our flights on air india. i have just recently seen the wes anderson movie 'darjeeling express', so i had visions of what i might be walking into at the end of that jetway. i was not far off.. the plane was a 747 from 1979.. there were stairs leading upstairs to what i imagined to be a bollywood disco lounge! the seats were orange and red, the flight attendants dressed in traditional sari. jokes of curry dishes as inflight food soon came true, and there was an offering of both hollywood and bollywood movies for our viewing pleasure. the good thing was the flight was empty, so i had my own row to stretch out in.
we arrived in paris and headed to our hotel. it was just off the champs elysees near l'arc de triamphe... which is WAY bigger than the one in washington square park. roxy has never studied french, so she quickly put me in charge of communicating with the locals. i was nervous but plenty of HS french came rushing back to me, and we got by just fine.
we were exhausted from the flight, so we decided to head over to the expo and pick up our numbers and race information. i couldn't believe i was actually there, in paris, picking up my offical marathon RACE number!! then we chilled out for a while, grabbed dinner and crashed.
friday we set out to see the town. it was a gorgeous sunny spring day. we took the metro across town because we were instructed to keep the walking to a minimum.. saving our legs for sunday. on the suggestion of a co-worker, we visited saint chapel which is on the same island as notre dame. saint chapel was one of the first buildings when the figured out how to support cielings without breaking up the room with interior walls. it is so beautiful. the walls are completely made of stained glass, and we were there on a sunny day so the entire room was like being inside a jewel. really awe inspiring.
notre dame is like walking into the pages of my art history books. so surreal that i was standing in front of this building i had seen so many times before. after vising this we walked across the bridge to isle st. louis, and had some lunch at an outdoor cafe (paris is overrun with charming outdoor cafes!) the island is a great place to wander. narrow streets with old buildings and shops. on the recommendation of roxy's friend, we found a shop that sells delicious ice cream and got some for our walk. we are running a marathon, so luckily carbs are high on our list of 'must haves'!!!
afer all this walking, we took a nap and then headed over to see the tour eiffel (eiffel tower) all lit up at night. it's a bit of a scene there.. tons of tourists, and then people in your face trying to sell you mini-eiffel towers that light up, and key chains and other assorted crap. we wandered back and grabbed some late night dinner before going to bed.
saturday there was a morning run which i skipped.. saving my legs for sunday.. and truthfully, i didn't want to know before the actual race if it was going to hurt. so i skipped it and slept in while roxy met up with the group for a quick 20 minute run to the siene.
our plan was to head down to monparnasse and visit the catacombs. it's a macabre place. old mines where the had stored bones when overcrowded graves had to be dug up. it was a confusing trip.. we were walking in circles trying to find the right streets and really looking like lost tourists! when we finally found it, it turns out the catacombs are closed due to renovations!!
roxy was tired, and i really wanted to visit the picasso museum, so we parted ways. at the museum i ran into some of the runners from TNT, and our head coach so we walked the museum together. it is a great collection of picasso's work, and all exhibited in an old mansion in the marais neighborhood of paris. after this we walked over to the pompadu center which is a big modern art museum. we didn't have time to go inside, but the outside of the building is a sight in itself. it was raining and the impending race was starting to set in..
saturday night we had a group pasta dinner. to kick off the dinner, people told their stories of why they got involved in team in training, who they are running for.. how leukemia has touched their lives. it's a moving night.
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