30th – 31st August 2024
Getting to Paris
Friday morning saw us rise early and enjoy a light breakfast at La Coste, before taking the remnants of the fridge and fruit bowl with us for a travelling lunch. Closing the last of the shutters, we set off to our neighbours, Hans and Ina, for a lift to Carmaux Station.
Hans was all in blue, including elegant blue suede shoes, a mark of respect: they were on their way to attend our dear neighbour, Francoise’s funeral, who had passed away, due to early onset dementia.
The train journey to Toulouse passed uneventfully, except some our luggage was rather damp, due to a leaking bottle of Badoit water that Peter had put rather too hastily in his rucksack at the last moment. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the TGV to Paris. Signal failure just out of Toulouse immediately caused a half-hour delay. We busied ourselves with chores, particularly with matters arising from the sale of a flat in our house in London.
The SNCF TGV train reached speeds of 300km per hour, filling up as we got closer to Paris. It was only then we discovered that Lynne had missed the signage at the top of the stairs and we were seated in the wrong carriage! Fortunately the passengers holding reservations for the seats we were occupying were happy to swap with us.
Friday evening in Paris
We arrived at Montparnasse Station, 40 minutes late during the Friday evening rush hour. It was not only heaving with laden passengers, but raining too! We certainly hadn’t expected that, with our rain jackets packed away. We found our way to the Metro station, easily bought our Navigo passes at a machine, which we uploaded with 6 rides each.
We took the underpass to Metro Line 12, alighting at Notre Dame de Lorette. The roads were wet and it took us rather longer to reach our boutique hotel than Lynne had expected in the drizzle.
We were upgraded to a slightly larger room, but with a mal-functioning shower, which we didn’t discover until the next day.
Peter had booked La Maison Bleue for dinner, a short walk up the road and past the little hotel Lynne had stayed in for one night. She had travelled from La Coste to London for a hospital appointment during the first Covid lockdown, when there were no flights, no restaurants open and no public transport in Paris.
La Maison Bleue seemed to fit the bill: shared foie gras, a burger each, no wine nor dessert. We planned a next day 10km run before breakfast along the Seine. But something disagreed with Lynne and she had to resort to her emergency supply of Armagnac to settle her stomach.
Running in Paris
It wasn’t as hot as we had anticipated when we dressed for our run, but the roads weren’t wet either. We ran down empty pavements to the Louvre and dropped down to the Seine, along cobblestones, which Lynne remembered as being more painful last time she ran along them, but that was maybe because it was more than half way through the Paris marathon 5 years ago!
Our route was blocked at Place de La Concord by the Paralympics, but we were able to cross the river and run to the Eiffel Tower, where we paused for some photos. We also posed in front of the Olympic Flame and the Arch opposite the Louvre, where we had taken photos with Chris after a morning run, before Kirsten’s thirtieth birthday celebrations.
The morning run had been magnificent as we passed various Paralympic venues, the roads were mostly devoid of traffic, pedestrians were few and the sun was shining. That changed as Lynne bounded across Rue Rivoli, avoiding tourists waiting to cross, jumping over the kerb, but catching her toe on an unseen drain. She went flying landing on her chest on the stone pavement, her confidence shattered and anxious about her ability to run the race in Stockholm at all. Time will tell….
We managed to make it back to the hotel to grab breakfast in our running gear before spending the afternoon resting, anxious not to repeat Peter’s mistake of being active too soon after a fall on the ski slopes in February.
When we finally ventured out, we enjoyed the most delicious tarts at a bakery a short walk away. Dinner was at Le Terminus Nord, where we treated ourselves to a full meal, including wine and flaming Crêpes Suzette for Peter. After all, we had earned it!
