Frayed Laces in Paris

Well folks, I'm officially back in the states...but not home yet.  As I write this I'm sitting in the Seattle airport. My day so far has consisted of an hour long train ride, a 2 hour flight from Copenhagen to Paris, an hour and a half layover, a ten hour flight to Seattle, and now a 5 hour layover followed by a 6 hour flight. Repeat after me: "I love to travel. I love to travel. I love to travel."

Truthfully, I do like to travel, but until they invent teleportation the act of flying will always irritate me (as it does every other person on the planet). Yes, a 5 hour layover blows, but it gives me some time to catch up on some things before the chaos of my return begins. MamaFL is visiting me as soon as I return, so I get to extend my vacation one more week while I show Mama my favorite parts of Oahu.

I promised you I'd share some highlights from my Paris trip. It was everything I expected and more. I saw the normal tourist things but also got to spend time exploring small neighborhoods. Seeing Paris by foot was definitely the way to go. I walked so much and used that as an excuse to eat as much bread and brie as my heart desired (and yes, I did gain weight during my month in Paris. I predict about 10 pounds. It's going to suck losing it, but I know it will come off quickly. It always does). But enough about my Eurochub...on to the pics and video!

Notre Dame with the bells chiming at night

The sparkling Eiffel tower

Made this for MamaFL but realized it's the only shot of me with the Eiffel Tower

The Arc de Triomphe

Me outside the Louvre 

 Picture of people acting stupid for their own photos

Notre Dame (I went to Mass there on New Years!) 

Do you see the Mona Lisa?

She's sprinting for the finish! 

The Louvre was my far the most part. I saw every last inch of the Louvre. Granted, I had to move quickly through the exhibits, but I wanted to be able to see everything. The Louvre was great because everyone else was moving quickly as well and I didn't feel the sense of pretentiousness that you feel at other museums. (Despite getting an A in "Learning to See" in college, an introductory art course, I am not an art expert at all. I prefer to breeze through museums. I hate it when you go to museums where the patrons spew crap about the artist's chartreuse movement or pretend like their the world's expert on the artist. I feel judged by those patrons as I quickly pass through the exhibits. I feel like they're saying "pah. Look at that silly girl. She only spent 10 seconds in front of this painting. She obviously cannot appreciate the fine talent of this piece of art or she would analyze it for 15 minutes like we do.") Bottom line: You feel normal quickly moving through the Louvre.

But the best part of my day was my lunch with fellow twitter pal Caspar! He treated me to an AMAZING lunch at a nearby cafe--complete with Champagne, Scallops, and Cafe Gourmand. I felt so oh-la-la as we sat there outside the Louvre, sipping champagne and Perrier, and discussing training, working, and family life.  He is an incredible man and we talked about the challenge of balancing family life, work life, and training. He is unbelievably devoted to his family and is someone all Dads should aspire to be like! Caspar, it was a pleasure getting to know you!


And with that, dear friends, it's time to say au revoir! I am happy to (almost) be home and am looking forward to my own bed, clean clothes, and my normal routine. If you're wondering about my training schedule, I haven't worked one out yet with the coach. My guess is I'll start training in February for my first 70.3 the first week of June. The next few weeks will be chaotic as I work on manuscripts from my research project, and will only get more chaotic as I defend in April! But never fear, training will resume again. But I need a few weeks to get my life back in order!