Travel and Verse

stories of travel, medical missions, and more

Month: August 2022

Run-cation, part 4: a homeless feast and the finish

August 18, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Basilica Sacré-Cœur, a perfect place for a view of the City of Lights (Love)

Travel Journal, 125

In August of 2021, me and a friend traveled to Paris to go for a run. Follow along with this map of our run. We ran 75 km over a day-and-a-half. Here’s how we did it:

Here is as good a time as any to remind you that our run took place in August of 2021 and Covid restrictions in France were outrageous. Masks were still in use and vaccine and tests were also required. Since I am a US resident, I simply kept my vaccine card with me during the day. Seth on the other hand is an EU resident. At the time, EU residents were required to print off and carry a specific sheet of paper with a QR scannable code. Everywhere we went for coffee, food, grocery, or any store, proprietors checked my card and scanned Seth’s code. And it was getting old. I kept my card handy, but made sure to protect it. Seth had no card, just a flimsy piece of paper which had begun to break down. But we finally got past the grocery store guard (yes, guard), and started hunting for food.

We exited the store with two bags of delights and looked for a place to eat. The river always gives travelers a location to sit and have a meal. We found a bench across from a large boat and tucked into our feast of Red Bull, chocolate wafer cookies, dates, and ginger ale. As we sat near the boat, a man walked up to us and began to ask us if we needed help. Taken aback, we told him we were doing just fine, thank you. He pointed to the boat and I saw the sign which declared that we were sitting at the entrance of the Parisian Salvation Army. We must have been quite the site sitting there in our ragged running clothes eating junk food, waiting for the Salvation Army to open. I don’t often get mistaken for a homeless man. But when I look at some of my running pictures, I’m actually surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

Seth felt like we were getting a little...behind

Homeless meal finished, we began running and turned right at boulevard Jean Jaures, leading us away from the river. The next goal was to get to the second most visited monument in Paris, Sacré-Cœur. This Basilica tends to be visited not for religious purposes, but mostly for the great view. The tiny streets leading up to the monument offer shops filled with knick-knacks of keychain Eiffel Towers and t-shirts brandishing the face of Mona Lisa. We snagged a slushy from a touristy vendor and looked up at Sacré-Cœur. It stands at the top of a hill. This may not seem problematic to most traveler. But Seth and I were already 28 miles into our day. Begrudgingly, we trudged up the 300 marble steps and gazed over Paris. The climb is definitely worth it. Even the naked eye reveals the major landmarks, even the Eiffel Tower which now hangs from your car keys.

Cliché Eiffel Tower pic? Check.

Our day was coming to a close. We had looped around from our hostel at Rue de Dunkerque, down to Notre Dame, followed the Seine for many miles, turned to Sacré-Cœur, and ended up back at the hostel.  We put 31 miles or 50 km on our shoes throughout the day, and had an additional 15+ miles or 25 km the day before that. We showered and cleaned up and treated ourself to some more Indian curry…and then shawarma on the way back to the hostel.

Running the city of Paris may not be the best way to enjoy each monument and restaurant. But running a city gives the traveler a unique perspective, an overview. We landed in Paris and began running on a Tuesday, ran all day Wednesday, then left the country on Thursday. It was like taking a survey course on an intense subject. We saw highlights and locales which most tourist almost never see. Did I learn everything I need to know about Paris to, say, win an argument about the French Revolution with Seth the next time I see him? Probably not. But I promise you that we saw more of Paris in a day-and-a-half than most travelers can do in a week.

It’s not quality folks, it’s quantity.

Or is it the other way around?

 

anthony forrest

Part 1: getting there and getting started

Part 2: connecting and running

Part 3: architecture, coffee, and gravel paths

Follow along each week for the rest of our run along the Seine River in Paris.

Run-cation, part 3: architecture, coffee, and gravel paths

August 11, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Gravel path along the Bois de Boulogne public park. Seine river to our left, park to the right.

Travel Journal, 124

In August of 2021, me and a friend traveled to Paris to go for a run. Follow along with this map of our run. We ran 75 km over a day-and-a-half. Here’s how we did it:

Running south, we immediately hit the Seine and saw Sainte-Chapelle and the Louvre. The Louvre houses some of the world’s tressures. But we had no time to peruse the buildings and floors of art and history. The stunning enlightenment-era architecture takes your breath away. In the US, our oldest structures were built during the Revolutionary War, or sometime after the Civil War. But Europe’s far older. And even knowing this, Paris somehow feels older than the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Perhaps it’s the medieval skeletal structures that bleed through that gives it a haunting feeling. Most of the buildings here were born in the Middle Ages and grew to what we know now, stone and glass cathedrals and palaces.

We ran (literally) into the Louvre from its famous entrance at the Tuileries Garden, through its courtyards and fountains and statues, then back the way we came. When exiting the Louvre at the Place de la Concord (an 18th century Egyptian Obelisk) visitors gaze down the expansive and very photographed avenue Champs-Élysées. Great leaders (Napoleon Bonaparte) and not so great leaders (Adolf Hitler) have walked and ridden down this 1.2-mile-long street, lined with fantastic shopping and even more fantastic history. And it all leads to the Arc de Triomphe. We ran the roundabout seeing every side of this 162’ tall structure, arguing about the French Revolution. Emperor Bonaparte commissioned the towering arch while he stilled ruled. It was ironically finished long after the government he created exiled him and he died of a mysterious illness.

Our run tour of Paris led back down to the Seine and connected us with the most famous structure of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. We took cliched pictures and posed hilariously, as is probably required by all that governs tourists. The tower is actually pretty cool. Not as old as the rest of Paris, but very interesting nonetheless. But honestly, I had other things on my mind. Namely food and coffee.

A few blocks away, I talked Seth into stopping for second breakfast. I speak such horrible French. I know a handful of words and all of them have to do with ordering coffee and food. We found a little café and I ordered us two omelets and two café cremes (This is just what the French call a cappuccino. They drink it in the morning. It also usually comes with chocolate dusted on top.)

After fueling up on omelets and fries and coffee, we trudged along the Seine leaving the iconic sites behind us. We tend to think of Paris as a caricature of itself—a connect the dots of Eiffel Towers and museums. Throw in a couple of macaroons and you’ve got yourself a foreign film. But Paris, like all places, is home to people living out their lives in business and play. So we left the icons behind us and ran toward the Paris of the people. Apartment buildings and grocery stores line the river here. Parts of the river are simply not as clean. Boats dot the river throughout the city. But it seems the further away from downtown you go, the more houseboats you see. Then crossing the Pont de Saint-Cloud, Seth and I found a mostly gravel pathway on the eastern side of the river (city side).

This pathway led us through over 5 miles of houseboats and far more seclusion than the city running we’d been doing. To our left, the Seine—to our right, wooded land; this is part of the massive Bois de Boulogne public park area. For me, this was probably the most enjoyable running, since we could avoid cars and pedestrians. It also gave us a better view of the river and wooded land.

The gravel path finally popped us out onto a sidewalk much like the walkway on which we began this run. But by now, we were hungry and thirsty. We checked our phones until Seth recognized a grocery store chain he’d seen in Spain. After over 20 miles of running, we were very ready for some (more) fuel.

anthony forrest

Part 1: getting there and getting started

Part 2: connecting and running

Follow along each week for the rest of our run along the Seine River in Paris.

Run-cation, part 2: connecting and running

August 4, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Notre-Dame cathedral looking down on the Seine River. Notice the walkway next to the river. Seth and I would run many miles on walkways like this one.

Travel Journal, 123

In August of 2021, me and a friend traveled to Paris to go for a run. Follow along with this map of our run. We ran 75 km over a day-and-a-half. Here’s how we did it:

The train stopped at Orly station and I hopped off. And after a few minutes of waiting, Seth and I spotted each other near the arrivals entrance. I don’t really know what I was thinking was going to happen. Maybe we were going to catch up over dinner? Perhaps we would grab a train and do a little sight-seeing? Nay. We set up our running watches and looked at google maps. We came here to run, and that’s what we were going to do.

We laughed and joked and talked about jet lag as we began running, literally from the airport parking lot. The Seine River snakes through Paris and acts as kind of a guide to all of the Parisian sites. Yes, some of the sites do not lie right adjacent to the river. But a landmark like the Seine helps any traveler with finding their way. We followed our phone map through parking lots, industrial complexes, and car rental locales until finally the business section gave way to the river cutting through it all.

Paris is, of course, a romantic and classical city full of museums and architecture and cuisine. And if you want to see the touristy sites, you can certainly do that. Pay for a hop-on-hop-off bus. Go to the Eiffel tower. (And you should definitely go to the Eiffel tower.) But Seth and I had deeper plans. As we hit the river, we ran on the paved walkway that lines it shores for the entire length of the city. The only major site we saw that evening was Notre Dame. Of course, when I now visit the famous cathedral, my heart tends to ache. The fire in April of 2019 left the ancient structure hollow and in desperate need of repair. The ongoing restorations have no end date in site. Visitors will not be allowed until at least Spring of 2024.

That first day of running took us about 16 miles or 25km, all leading to our hostel, the St Christopher’s Inn, Gare du Nord, located in the Saint Vincent de Paul sector of the city. After finding a bed and showering off the scum of many hours of travel, no sleep, and 16 miles of city running, it was time to find some food.

Most people know Paris as a place of croissant (and it is—you must have croissant), and espresso (again, drink the coffee). But what Americans certainly don’t think about is how international a city Paris is. Travelers are remiss if they don’t check out the shawarma or, in our case, curry.

We settled on a vegetarian Indian place and promptly asked the manager to surprise us. We were not disappointed. Eating a bunch of curry before running 30 miles the next day may seem like folly. I don’t recommend it for the faint of heart. I am pleased to announce that we suffered no gastrointestinal upset. No runners were harmed in the eating of this curry.

We walked back to the hostel, played a couple of games of chess, I read a few more pages of my book, and it was lights out. We both slept as well as to be expected.

Since we were still on the heels of a pandemic, our hostel-provided breakfast came in a bag and consisted of an orange juice, chocolate croissant, and a token for an extremely disappointing coffee. We’d have to track down a descent coffee later in the day. We had also figured out that we would be able to stay at the same hostel and store our clothes in a locker until we returned. This proved to be very helpful. No need to carry all our gear all over the City of Lights like we did the day before. Our full day of running was setting up for success. The site-seeing would truly begin today.

 

anthony forrest

Part 1: getting there and getting started

Follow along each week for the rest of our run along the Seine River in Paris.

summer storm

August 1, 2022 / / 0 Comments

A heavy fall of rain dots my hearing

Awake to the tiny dashes against the night

My sleep-sodden mind fights with all might

But these tired eyes open to the dark-sky storm

Born of heat

Summer rain

Like pent up pain released upon the Earth

 

anthony forrest

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