The Rest of the Paris Story

So I wrote about day one which can be summarized as lots of walking- day two can be summed up as stairs, stairs and more stairs. The first thing we did on day two was head to Sacre Cure (which is the white church on a huge hill. It gives you an amazing view of the city. However you must climb nearly 400 stairs to get to the top of the church - plus the stairs the many stairs that you must first must climb to get out of the metro - then add the stairs required to climb to get up the hill to the church. So if you do that math - even with the metric conversion it is a lot of stairs. (pictures below.)One of the coolest parts was when we got out of the metro we ran into a great little jazz band. They were a mixed of French, German and American musicians. It was a great little band - it was a lot of fun to listen to.Then we had dinner. And headed down to the Eiffel Tower. It was night so it was lite up - but this year it was lit up with blue lights - which sparkle at the beginning of every hour for 10 minutes. I know it's super touristy - however it is an amazing. We walked up the 680+ stairs as far up as you could walk. Then we came down to sit at the park, bought a bottle of wine and watched the Tower sparkle. It's funny because when it starts you can hear a collective - ahhhhhh from the crowd. We headed back to the hotel and enjoyed each others company - catching up on the last year until 2 am.The next day was our museum tour. We did sleep in a little (well half the group did, Tony and Karyn were up bright and early to go to the Louvre.) The rest of us weighed our options and decided that sleep would be better than trying to make it through the entire day. Karyn and Tony had an intense tour - the rest of us did the highlights - which of course include the Mona Lisa. I know that I could be stoned for saying this but I am not a huge fan on the Louvre - it's beautiful and a great experience, but my favorite part is Napoleon's apartments. We tried to hit the Musee d'Orsay - but it was closed. Then we headed to the Centre Pompidou, which I did love (I didn't love the walk - my feet were tired) but I did love the modern art. That is more my style - there were tons of Picasso's and people I had never heard off - but the art was very interesting. By the time we got home it was 9:30 am and since I needed to run in the morning - we weren't going to have another late night.

After our run this morning we headed to the Musee d'Orsay. It was also in my opinion better than the Louvre. It is filled with Monet's, Van Gogh's, Whistler's Mother and more. I know it's all the famous painting - but admit it most of us would rather read the tabloids about the stars not ordinary people - well the same goes with me and museums.

Then we headed back to the hotel - to get our luggage to head for the train station. We sat for a short while at the train station. Then we headed back to Geneva on the TGV (the fast train that bolts through the Paris country side at about oh 200 mph.) We arrived in Geneva at about 6:30 pm. And now we are in the computer lab at the John Knox Center (Robert just arrived - so the 7:11 club is complete.) Tomorrow we start class - so technically the work must begin - but first we meet at 7:11 for a run (or as in my case tomorrow a short walk - I must have at least one rest day after today's long run.)

12 Miles Through Paris

This morning, we (Bruce, Karyn, Joe & I) woke up very early (5:15 am) to go on our 12 mile scheduled run through Paris. We ran up to the the Arc' de Triumph. Then we ran down the Champs Elysees - which was probably one of the most interesting parts of the run. Why? Well it wasn't the scenery, it was the fact that all the clubs were closing down - yes it was close to 6 am. Bruce made the comment, "Four of us are not like the others." Yes, that would be the four that had slept that were wearing running clothes and weren't stumbling down the street. I must admit that time flew by as I was nervously watching the drunken club goers wondering just what they might do. Good news - nothing happened:)

Then we ran down to the Place de la Concorde - at that moment it was beautiful. The moon was out, the sky was beautiful. It was truly an amazing moment. Then we ran by the Louvre - that's were we hit 4 miles - that's also where Joe and Karyn called it quits. Bruce and I headed down to the Notre Dame.

Then we ran to the Eiffel Tower (which by the way was trashed - yes, the street cleaners in Paris could be the hardest working men in Europe. That is one of the things we noticed - Paris in the morning especially a Sunday morning is trashed. The area right near the Eiffel Tower was just littered with paper and crap. As we ran by the started to pick up all the trash.

Finally we ended our run right by the Arc de Triumph. To be honest I am surprised we made it the entire 12 miles because we have done so much walking - and of course walking up the endless amount of stairs. It was probably one of the most spectacular runs I have ever done - I didn't have a great time per say but it was beautiful. I will write more about the rest of the trip in the next post.

Bonjour from Paris

It was a wonderful reunion at the Geneva Airport - Bruce came to pick me up with our friend Joachim from Ohio (Mr. Lori of Tails on the Bird Couch.) It was nice to see him in person because my only true evidence that he is still alive is a picture or two on Lori's blog - which by the way you should all read - it is very very enjoyable. See the link on the right. :)

Then we headed back to the John Knox Center in Geneva where Karyn and Meghan where waiting for us - well kind of they were sleeping. Poor Tony missed his flight in Newark due to delays so he was stuck in Paris. He arrived a short time later with of course no luggage. The 7:11 club was complete (well with the exception of Robert who is traveling with his wife and friends - we have had one email from him that indicated his plane was struck by lightening over the Atlantic and their Hotel in London caught fire - oh and he has had at least one Cheese Royale - other than that we haven't heard how his trip is going - hopefully better.)

We headed downtown to the shops so Tony could get some clothes for Paris. After spending some time in the Manor department store - we headed off to the Lake for something to eat. Then we got back to the JKC and packed our bags for Paris (yes we are only here for 4 days so we weren't going to bring all our luggage with us.) Then we turned in early because we had an early train.

We woke up this morning at about 5 am. We had to leave for the train station by 6 am in order to catch the bus and go through French customs (which are convientantly at the Geneva train station.) We made it with plenty of time and boarded the 4 hour express TVG train. We didn't get much sleep on the train, but that didn't stop us from heading out on the town.

We managed to get some lunch at a sandwich shop and eat el fresco in the park. Then we went down to the Arc de Triumphe, the shopping district Champs Elysees, walked down to the Louvre, and ended at Notre Dame before taking the metro back to our hotel. We are all feeling the high price of the Euro - so we didn't buy much. Just enjoyed each others company. There is a lot happening here in Paris - they are getting ready for the Tour De France to finish here - but it doesn't finish while we are here, it will rap up on the Champs Elysees on July 27. It would have been a really cool accident if it was this weekend, but as I told Bruce it looks like they have a lot more to do to be ready - and they weren't working that fast.

Here's Bruce with his Paris souvenirs a new wallet - we like to call it his credit card attache'.

We had dinner. Everyone but me is still fighting jet lag - and I am just tired from two very very early mornings. So after our very long walk and dinner we are calling it a night. Tomorrow we are planning to head over to Sacre Cure (the church on the hill) and maybe go into a couple museums.