Paris: An Unforgettable Weekend

Megen and I went to Paris this past weekend. We had planned the trip a while ago...the main reason being because Megen was going to run in the Paris Marathon on Sunday. Paris is her favorite city, and I have only been there once, when I was 17...so I really wanted to go back! We left Friday morning (had to rise at 4:15!!!) on the Eurostar. I had never been on the Eurostar and it is really great. It's comfortable and spacious and only 2 1/2 hours to Paris. Plus it's nice to be able to see the countryside through the window. Got to Paris and went to the hotel. The hotel was directly across from Gare de Nord station where we arrived, so that was really nice. Unfortunately, that was the only nice thing about the hotel. More on that later. So after checking in we headed out into the city. Went to the Opera Garnier, which is a magnificent edifice. So beautiful. Especially at night when it's all lit up, but I don't think we made it back over at night. Walked around a bit more and then Meg had to head down to get her marathon stuff for Sunday, so I headed over to the Louvre. The Louvre is incredibly impressive of course, but I got bored after a short time there. I love to read about each piece I like and find out a little bit about them, see what medium was used, etc. Everything about the paintings in the Louvre is in French, so I couldn't find out any information, thus I got bored. Of course I went to see the Mona Lisa; it's such a huge deal to go and see that painting, but why? What's the big deal? I don't think I'll ever fully understand what makes some of these artists and certain paintings so famous and great. Anyway, Megen and I met up again and went walking down by the Seine toward the Notre Dame. I hadn't seen Notre Dame before and it is so majestic! The churches in Europe are really something. You can look at pictures and know that they are beautiful, but until you are up close looking at the intricacy and detail of every inch of the place, you just can't grasp their majesty. We went in and there was a service happening, we thought it had to do with the Pope's funeral being that day. After that we continued on walking around, went to Ile de la Cite and Ile St. Louis, which are the two sort of isles on the Seine river. On Ile St. Louis, we had the best gelato ever made by human hands. It's a wonderful little place called Amorino. There are actually several of them, but I am not kidding when I say that this gelato is from God. So, this wonderful creation sparked in me such inspiration that I had to write a haiku about it. One haiku led to another, and before we knew it, Megen and I seemed to be communicating predominantly through haikus. It was so great, everything became a haiku, and we were constantly counting on our fingers as we thought and spoke. It was awesome. The rest of the weekend it continued. All day at Disneyland, haikus. I would like to take this opportunity to share a couple of the haikus inspired by Paris, with you. Here is a double:
You may ask yourself...
what's so great about Paris?
museums galore...
bistros everywhere
monuments of majesty
splendid cathedrals

ode to croissants:

All butter croissants
layers of flaky goodness
better than ice cream?

in a cafe:

from behind the glass
people constantly pass by
watching in wonder

profound:

with each new question
elements come into play
and change the answer

at EuroDisney:

How funny we are
embracing childhood though adults
alive at Disney

and one from Megen on romance:

A shared umbrella
tilted to cover her head
equally happy

Well, it was hard to choose which to share...there are many more. We are probably going to publish a book. I'll let you know. Um...Saturday went to Euro Disney which was fantastic! We totally were like little kids, so excited when we entered and saw Main Street USA...we were jumping and laughing and running!! So fun! Euro Disney is way smaller than Disneyland, but still lots of fun. Really a day there is enough to cover what you need to cover. I came prepared...researched ahead. So I made a sheet that had EuroDisney broken into the main parks-and then which rides I COULD NOT miss, which were second, and which were third. I did not want to waste time or miss anything. Some of my faves, like Pirates of the Caribbean, were quite different, but still great. Super fun day. Sunday was the big Paris marathon. Unfortunately, Megen had hurt her knee (overuse) during training, and was also sick a bit, so she knew going into the run that she would probably only run the first couple of miles and then have to walk the rest, depending on the knee pain. We went down to Champs d'Elysees where the race started, near the Arc de Triomphe. It was so incredible-there were 35,000 participants running in the marathon! The atmosphere was exhilarating...people so excited and energetic. It was an experience I've never had before, but would like to again. I wanted to be in the marathon so bad, but Lord knows I cannot run 26 miles. I think I may train for one though, I wish to, but it's pretty intense. I think I'll try a 5K first! But what an incredible thing to do. Since there were so many people, the start lasted a good 10 or 15 minutes. After everyone was gone and I had snapped some pics of the aftermath-clothes and plastic poncho type things littering the street- I hopped on the metro and went to Bastille(the 15 mile marker) to cheer people on and watch for Megen. It was awesome-tons of people lining the streets cheering. All in French of course, so I really have no idea what was being said. I loved it! The first 3 I saw were wheelchairers, which is just amazing to me! The first group of runners were Kenyans, black as night and pure muscle. At 15 miles they were running hard, not jogging, RUNNING. Amazing. The first guy in made it in 2h 8min 2sec. I stood there for about 2 hours watching people run-people coming constantly for 2 hours!! Sometimes it was massive herds of people, sometimes more sporadic. So exciting! Things I saw: many clown costumes, some full on with the wig, nose, glasses, one piece outfit; dads with jogging strollers, people pushing handicapped people in wheelchairs, a man in a white wedding dress, bumble bees, man with floatie around waist, men wearing berets...lots of other crazy things. And if I was giving out awards, some of them would be for things like the tallest man, smallest woman, hairest back, most attractive man, sweatiest man, best costume, weirdest hair, and so on. After that I went to the Eiffel Tower and walked around a bit, then met Megen at the hotel. We went up to the Sacre Coeur, which is high on a hill-gotta walk up a lot of stairs. Then went to Montmarte just behind the church, which is quite possibly my fave little area. It's so precious...outdoor cafes in the middle surrounded by artists painting and drawing, then more cafes on the outter rim of the square. Had more gelato and crepes-my goodness I haven't mentioned the crepes! Crepes and croissants in Paris are wonderful beyond belief. Anyway, that pretty much wraps up the weekend in Paris. Thanks for reading-sorry it got so long! I clearly love details!