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March 15, 2005
Europe
I just do not know what to do about my blog situation right now. There is so, so, so much to update and I really don't want to be typing until my fingers fall off. But I will do my best to cover every day from a running perspective. It has been so long since I have blogged, I've missed it! Overall I have to say that I had an absolutely wonderful time in Europe. I am so happy that I have been to France now - it is an amazing place! Matt and I had such a good time. From a running perspective, I didn't run as much as I would have liked to while we were there, but I did all right and we did so much walking that I don't feel like a total slob. Now here is a day by day (very quick, maybe I will just add details in future entries) from the trip. Starting from Friday 3/4 and ending this morning.
Friday (Travel Day):
I ran 8 miles just because I knew I wouldn't run much in Europe. It was fine. Got up about 6:30, ran, did last minute packing stuff, and then we were off to the airport (Matt's dad was so nice to give us a ride!). Our flights were long and uneventful. We arrived in London Saturday morning at about 6:30 am.
Saturday:
Took a double decker bus tour around London, walked through Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, etc. I have to say how cold it was in Europe when we were there, which is unfortunate but we certainly made the best of it. For most of the trip it was probably 40 degrees (F) at the very most. So the bus tour was very cold but it was a great way to see a lot of sights. After that I ran probably about 3.5 miles along the Thames. Then we went to a great dinner of Indian food - definitely the best Indian food I've ever had.
Sunday:
Somehow the time change really threw us for a loop and we slept until noon. Whoops! I can't lie, it felt good. But this would mean no running for me - not enough hours in the day! We had lunch at a noodle place which was pretty good and went to the British Museum, one of my favorite places. We also did a sweet mummy special exhibit there which was so cool.
Monday:
Travel day, Eurostar to Paris. No running as I did not sleep Sunday night because I was too excited about going to Paris, which I had wanted to do since I was 14! Of course not sleeping was bad so I felt terrible and practically had a nervous breakdown in the Louvre. But the Louvre was very cool. We did the Louvre and Notre Dame on Monday, and checked into our wonderful hotel, where I spilled juice all over the table in the beautiful hotel! What a mess. I don't even like juice. After the afternoon activies we napped and then went out to dinner and walked around.
Tuesday:
Musee D'Orsay, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre. How much do I love Paris. So freaking much. And let me say how nice all the Parisiens were - everyone always says Parisiens are so mean to Americans and we really thought they would hate us what with the war and everything but everyone was incredibly nice even given our weak french skills. Which are much better now. Anyway everyone that goes to Paris should go to Sacre Coeur. It is amazing and has some of the best views of Paris. This was such a great day. After the activities Matt joined me for a run in our Paris neighborhood which was so nice for running - the Jardin du Luxembourg is very, very close so we trotted around the dirt trails there. That night we got baguettes, wine, and snacks and hung out in our nice room playing cards and stuff. It was fun.
Wednesday:
This was planned for Versailles but it was too damned cold. So we went back to Notre Dame, climbed to the top, took pictures, and stuff. We also went to another church, Saint-Chapelle, which was cool too. Then we had a crepe in a cute little place on the small island next to the island where Notre Dame is (I believe it's the Ile St Louis). After that we took a very long walk from there up to the Champs-Elysses and saw all the fancy stores. The big Sephora is really cool but everything's expensive. That night was our 'Valentine's Day' so we went and had an absolutely delicious dinner in our nieghborhood (recommended by the people in the hotel) and went out for drinks in the area. It was such a fun night. Oh and I ran like 3.5 miles.
Thursday:
I got up and ran about 3.5 miles again. Then we had a celebrity sighting in our hotel - Holly Hunter! That was kind of cool. She is like the smallest adult human I have ever seen. Then we headed for the train and just barely made our train back to London, but we made it. I was pretty tired that day too but it wasn't too bad. When we got back to London we checked in, went and bought tickets for Les Mis for that night, and tried to go to Westminster Abbey but missed it by like 5 minutes. Les Miserables was so, so cool.
Friday:
Went and picked up our rental car. Driving in and around London is crazy but Matt did such a great job! We got out of London somehow and drove to the Cotswolds. Little did we know that only people who are 75 years old go there but we thought it was great! No running for the day, busy just doing activities and stuff. We went to Blenheim Palace on the way and walked 4 miles. We had a great dinner in the town of Chipping Campden on Friday night.
Saturday:
Driving tour of all the cute little towns in the Cotswolds. This was fun and some of the towns are great but some are so touristy. We had a nice walk between two cute little towns, Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter. Got our shoes very muddy on the foot trails which are so muddy! When we got back I ran for a while, then Matt ran with me for a bit, then I broke him somehow, then I ran for a while, then I lost Matt and ran to find him, and by the end of it, I think I ran about 5.5 miles. I actually prefer running in London over running in the Cotswolds because in the country the roads are narrow, busy, and have no shoulder. But it was nice.
Sunday:
Got up early and drove back to London. Went for a nice long walk through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and Notting Hill. I love Notting Hill, for people that know New York it is very much like the villge - very young, trendy, cute stores and restaurants, with a bit of a scuzzy edge. Ran 5 miles that evening so I managed 21 miles the week we were in Europe which is not great but what can you do. On Sunday night we wanted to enjoy our London neighborhood so we walked around and settled on Turkish food for dinner which was very good!
Monday:
Got up early and ran about 4.5 miles along the Thames, through St James Park (my favorite park in London), and back. This was a very nice run and it was fun to see the city waking up. I got back and we showered and packed and then basically walked my run because we wanted to try Westminster Abbey again. Again it was closed! It is not supposed to be closed on Mondays so who knows. So we had extra time and walked back so I ran 4.5 miles and then walked 4 miles. It was a nice morning. We left for the airport around noon, and had such a nice surprise there - we found that because I have the second level of status at United we got access to the Red Carpet Club where they have free drinks, British InStyle (which is so much better), and all kinds of nice stuff. Then, when we went to the gate, we had been upgraded to business class for the London-Chicago flight! This was so freaking sweet. We had an amazing amount of legroom. So that flight was great but Chicago was a nightmare and they lost Matt's bag on the last leg of the flight which definitely sucked. We got home at about 11:20 last night and went to bed, we were so tired!
Tuesday:
I woke up at 6:30, it was sunny so I decided to run. Although it was nice out while we were gone, now it is freaking cold here so it was cold but nice. I just ran 4 miles but I believe I'll be running 4-6 more miles after work and lifting for the first time in almost two weeks. It's good to be home!
And if you read that whole entry, I am so impressed - Thank you!
Posted by barb at March 15, 2005 09:28 AM
Comments
I can't believe this is the one thing I'm taking away from reading that entire entry, but I had to laugh about Holly Hunter being the "smallest adult human" you have ever seen. That's kind of like the thought I had when I saw my first elite distance runners up close: "Wow, they're like mini people."
I'm glad you had such a great trip (Matt can organize any of my future trips to Europe - it sounds like he did a great job!) and, selfishly, I'm also glad to have you back.
Posted by: Alison at March 15, 2005 10:58 AM
Sounds like a great trip Barb! I'm impressed that you got any running in at all. I would have been inclined to sleep in! :) Glad you had so much fun - hope you have lots of good pictures! :)
Posted by: Beth at March 15, 2005 04:59 PM
Welcome back Barb! Your "holiday" sounds awesome and makes me want to go back to Europe. I am so impressed that you got running in while you were away. Now that you're back is the suck-ee part, unpacking and doing laundry and going back to work. Did you get to the Tower of London or Windsor Castle?
Blondie
Posted by: Blondie at March 15, 2005 06:31 PM