Paris: The next three days

4/5/14 - The day before the marathon!  I got up early on this day and went for a 2 mile run up the Seine to warm up for the race.  I saw lots of other runners doing the same and already got many compliments on my American flag socks.  Not a bad place for a short run huh?

Meanwhile, Chelsea went out and got us another awesome breakfast...

Then we went to the Musee de l'Armee, one of the largest armory museums in the world!  They had a never-ending room of armor, several awesome pieces of horse armor, etc.  Things from every era.

Medieval hatchet pistol.

Crucifix dagger!

Automatic Luger with a high capacity clip.

Different things the French resistance hid bombs inside, including a dead rat.

German V2 rocket…or I'm just glad to see you.

Next to the Museum is a chapel which houses the tombs of Napoleon and some other important fellows.

We had lunch in the gardens around Napoleon's tomb.

Napoleon's tomb.

At this point, I was getting a little nervous that I would be too tired for the run, so we went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier at a movie theater on Champs-Elysees, and it was really great!  Weird to see a movie in another country, it was in English with French subtitles.  I couldn't understand all the subtitles but there were definitely times I could tell the translation was losing a lot of the subtleties of the characters.  Also their large popcorn is tiny, and they don't offer butter or any toppings.  And there are no soda fountains, even at the movies you have to buy a bottle of Coke.

We got a pasta dinner from the grocery store to carb load for the race!

4/6/14 - Race day!!!!!!!

We arrived at the start of the race near the Arc de Triomph around 8:30…is it too late to change my mind?

I wanna go hoooooooooommmmmme!

 Paris is one of the largest marathons in the world with 44,000 runners, and you line up according to how long you think it will take you to run the race.  I didn't cross the start line until almost a half hour after the race began.

This first race picture is from around the 10k mark, you can see me running with my new friend Peter.  He struck up a conversation with me at the start of the race because he noticed my American flag socks.  He's from just outside LA and does a lot of work in Paris, and he's an Iron Man athlete.  We were running near the same pace, so we stuck together for the first ten miles and just chatted the whole time.  I've never done that before, I usually just listen to music, but I thought it was a fantastic distraction from the distance.  I was not able to run more than 22 miles at a time in training, and I know I would not have been able to run 26.2 miles on the day had I not had an interesting new friend for the first ten miles.  I lost him when he went for water and I went for a bathroom, but I found him online later because of this photo with his race number in it!  Thanks, Peter!

The excellent metro system in Paris meant that Chelsea was able to get ahead of me on the marathon route twice, and meet me at the finish.  She took this picture of me around 18k…

This is around the 25k mark.

Chelsea took this next one around 30k.

Tour Eiffel is hiding behind that tree.

Here I am only 20 meters from the finish line, not enough energy to smile.

This is the moment I crossed the finish line!

I did it!  Even after some gaps in training due to the holidays and then a lengthy flu, I was able to run for the entire distance of a marathon for the first time ever!

And now my legs will never work again. 

Triomph!

We took the metro to our apartment and I got to lay down for about an hour before we had to get dressed up and go out to our fancy celebration dinner at L'Atelier Joel Robuchon, a two-Michelin star restaurant close by.

Marathon celebration meal was dinner at L'Atelier Robuchon.

We both agreed this was the second best dinner we had in Paris, although we did not agree on which was the best.  We both got the nine-course "Discovery Menu."

lamb and rosemary

scallop and caviar

asparagus soup

foie gras

Chicken gyoza.

Black angus

Passion fruit and banana ice cream

creamy chocolate ganache Araguani ice cocoa nibs, Oreo cookie

4/7/14 - Day after marathon--looking back at these photos it is unbelievable to me how much we got done on this day...

We went to the Paris Pantheon, which was inspired by the one in Rome.

They had a lot of famous tombs there, like Voltaire, Braille, and the Curies.

Two power couples.

The famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore.

 

Then we headed over to the famous love lock bridge near Notre Dame.  People put their names on these padlocks and lock them to the bridge as a symbol of never-ending nub!

 Then you throw the keys into the river, so your love can never be unlocked!

Okay bye!

 Then we went to this ice cream stand that served Berthillon, supposedly the best in Paris.  It was really good, so I believe it!

Pretty...

In this photo you can see that I'm wearing my Finisher t-shirt that they give you at the finish line of the marathon.  Everywhere we went, we met people who were also wearing their Finisher t-shirts and it was a great way to meet people.  Even VERY experienced marathon runners all agreed that Paris is their favorite course.

Notre Dame

While we were visiting Notre Dame there was a choir performing, giving the whole thing a heavenly atmosphere...

Chelsea made an offering to Joan of Arc.

We saw the exhibit they have, the "treasures of Notre Dame," it was the first time I saw a reliquary with body parts inside it.  Turns out they are all over Paris and Rome and I'm sure all of Europe.  They also had a ton of gold and precious gems.

Here we are in the upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1242, it is nicknamed "The Jewelry Box" because of the floor to ceiling stained glass all the way around the chapel.

We also got to the visit the nearby Conciergerie, a former palace turned prison during the Reign of Terror.

They have a piece of the true cross!

That little oval in the middle is a window
through which you can see a piece of the one true cross.

This is the room where Marie Antoinette awaited execution.

This was a big cool surprise for me.  I studied the architecture of this building when I was a kid, I always wanted to go there but I didn't know what the building was and I didn't know that's where we were headed until we were there!  Childhood dream realized!  This is the Pompadou Center, where Paris keeps it's modern art.  That's the escalator in the tubes outside.

I never saw a Malevich in real life!

Mondrian

We didn't have a ton of time in the museum because we had to run home and get freshened up for sexy night!  We went to a burlesque show at the world famous Crazy Horse, which is Dita Von Teese's favorite place to perform (although she is not part of the regular show that we saw).

After that we splurged on a room at the famous Hotel Raphael, where Wes Anderson shot a sexy short film, and a million zillion fashion ads have been photographed.  We got a couple burgers from room service and a "side of fruit" that looked like a still life.

For the location and the price, it had a lot of room and amenities.  Would definitely stay there again!

WOW!  WHAT A COUPLE OF DAYS THAT WAS, HUH?  I can't believe we got so much done.