Paris Mon Amour

Paris is always a good idea. For sore soul, for happy days, for a weekend mini-break. After our flight to Cyprus was cancelled (grrrrr), Paris quickly came up as a good alternative.

We departed on Saturday morning and managed to drive quite smoothly up until about 2 km from our hotel where the traffic jam finally caught us (Saturday market at Blvd de la Chapelle). After a quick check in we took the metro to Champs Ellysees and started to walk and window shop… all the way down to Place de la Concorde, through Jardin des Tuileries, Louvre and to the Seine embankment. The weather was so-so but the spirit (and coffee) were excellent. We walked and walked and as the rain wouldn’t stop, we decided to cross the river and eat (and drink) at one of the tiny places in Rue de la Hachette.

Then several hours and kirs later it was time to head home. V suggested to try to get some calories burned by walking back to our hotel at Montmartre so we did. The evening was rather dry and we walked and talked and enjoyed it all the way.

On Sunday morning my inner clock woke me up at 6.35 am. What to do, what to do? As so many times before, I was struggling with myself: shall I turn around and fall asleep again to finish my sweet dream or shall I dress up in my running gear and sneak out for a quick 3 miler? My kind readers know the answer, I am sure.

So here I was, cold and clumsy with my hangover, trying to locate my Garmin, shoes, socks and one metro ticket (just in case)… In front of the hotel at Place d’Anvers it finally hit me: I am going to run down town Paris. I stretched extensively (my physiotherapist wouldn’t be a happy camper if reading this report so stretching in order to loosen up my knee a bit might be a small bribe for her) and started running. The city was still asleep, with its Sunday early morning smells and sounds. At Place de la Republique I took a wrong turn and before I knew it, I was not returning towards Montmartre but actually going down to Seine, passing Place des Vosges (Catherine Deneuve)… Hmm, 5 km done, about 4 to go if I wanted to run back to the hotel. Well, I still had the metro ticket so I decided to continue as long as the knee let me. And then suddenly Garmin beeped 8 km and I thought ‘10 looks better than 9’ and hopped around Montmartre a little longer…

Back in the hotel, after a quick shower I still managed to get a bit of a sleep (10 minutes or so) and it was time to get out again J. We decided to go to one of the large antique markets just outside Porte de Clignancourt. And how else to get there if not by foot? It was a great day again, with more walking and talking and some bargaining at the market stands. In the afternoon we had a good late lunch at Place du Tertre and after that slowly started heading home…

All in all, the weekend in Paris was probably healthier for us than Cyprus would be:

Walking: 12+9 km; Running: 10 km.

Janathon Day 8

This morning we were already dressed for the gym but as the sun started to shine, I’ve decided to run outside for a change. Somehow the neighborhood looked nicer in the sunshine so I went to discover a new running path along the water. All went well until about the 5th kilometer when I realised that the 2 bottles of wine (with M. yesterday night) probably still did not leave my system… so here I am, thirsty, hungry, sleepy and…. running slowly with my hangover. Sounds familiar?

Ten minutes later I had to stop and walked for a while. Of course the only way back home was walking or running. Funny how my body/mind works: the last 1.5 km home was my fastest in a loooong time.