Mills in Munich

Trip to Paris

This past weekend we were both in Paris. C was running a 20 km race and meeting a bunch of running friends, and K came along for the ride, since he had never been to Paris before. He was originally supposed to be in Ottawa the weekend of the race, but when his business trip was postponed, he decided to make the trip to Paris. Unfortunately, the race entries had already closed by that time, but buying another airplane ticket on the same flights was no problem.

We flew to Paris from Munich on Friday, took a taxi to our hotel, checked in, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to the race expo to pick up C's race kit (timing chip, number, etc.) The race expo was held right at the base of the Eiffel Tower. It was very small compared to the race expos we're used to in Canada, but picking up the race kit was very quick and easy.

At the Eiffel Tower, we saw a bunch of tour buses, and we decided to do a tour of the city. It was a great way to see many of the major tourist sites of Paris, without actually having to do a lot of walking. We didn't have time to go into any of the buildings we saw, but we saw a lot.

Went back to the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat, and tried to get in contact with the other European ladies running the race that C was supposed to meet up with. No luck. Two of the other women were supposed to be staying at the same hotel as us, and one of the ladies was a Paris native. However, she was on vacation the week before the race, and only due to arrive back in Paris late that night.

The next morning, we hear from the Paris native (Magali). It turns out there are *two* Mercure Tour Eiffel Hotels in Paris, just a few blocks from each other, and the other two ladies (Ammi and Martina) are staying at the other hotel. Thank goodness we found each other! Planned to hook up at the race expo, where the other ladies would pick up their race kits.

So we met up, then planned to meet at the Musée d'Orsay to view some art. We (K and C) jumped on the bus, and the other ladies decided to walk. Got off the bus at the Musée d'Orsay, went and grabbed some lunch (C had some absolutely decadent and delicious chocolate crepes), then waited for the gals at the museum. When they showed up we went inside, and viewed some beautiful paintings by Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Manet, and Van Gogh. Chatted for a while outside the museum, then we jumped back on the bus, with plans to meet the others for dinner at 6:00 pm.

Well, we never managed to hook up for dinner. We must have just missed each other, because we left at 6:40, and the others said they had arrived at 6:30. So we went to have some pasta to carbo load for the race, then headed back to the hotel to relax, and then sleep.

Race morning met up with the others at their hotel, which was spitting distance from the Eiffel Tower. The race started and ended in front of the tower. The crowd was immense, with 20,000 people running the race.

We'll be posting some pictures of each of the major tourist attractions we visited in Paris, but for now, you can view the photos of the race, as well as all of our photos from the Paris trip. Just click on the photos below to view all the pictures in each collection.

Labels: Paris, running, trips

posted by Caylynn at 13:15