Days 27-29

Eiffel 3, originally uploaded by Ryan Runs Europe.

So, I arrived in Paris two days ahead of schedule...and as I promised the doctor back in Arras, I took a few days off. This trip is all about taking time to smell the roses...or in the case of France, the rosé.
I was pretty excited to have a little break in Paris, and to see some familiar friends. I had been banking on staying comfortably with my friend Chris, who on several occasions has called me last minute and asked to crash on my floor...where he has stayed for several weeks. When I arrived, however, he informed me that he was staying with a host family, and that he hadn't asked if I could stay. He eventually got permission for the first night, but for the two following nights I was in a kind of strange limbo where neither of us really knew if it was alright that I was staying there. I had not washed my other change of clothes, and because I didn't run the day after I arrived, I just wore the same clothes into the next day...and the next day.
I spent my time going around to many of the sites that I wanted to see again, or missed the last time I was here (apart from Rome, Paris is the only point on my route that I have ever seen before). I went up to the top of the Arc du Triomphe and the Eiffel tower, through the parks, the Centre George Pompidou, and Notre Dame. Actually, thinking about it today, I think that the top of the Eiffel tower is the highest I have ever been on a man made structure...having never taken the time to go up the Empire State Building in New York. It was awesome.
On Thursday night, I met up with Jordan and Maya (friends from school), and we ate some bread and cheese, and drank a couple of bottles of wine on the Pont des Arts, which to my knowledge is the only place in Paris that you are not allowed to drink in public. Later in the evening, I went out with Chris and his friends, who had all finished their last day at the Stanford study abroad program. I spent most of the evening being the guy in the group who couldn't get into anywhere because he was wearing running clothes. "This is not a bar for jogging," the bouncers would say. It didn't help that I smelled pretty bad as well. Everyone felt bad for me, but for me it was just funny to be "that guy." We all finally got into some places, and had a wonderful time mixing alcohols and wandering around in the street. The thing about Paris (unlike New York) is that the trains shut down...so if you stay out until one, it means that you really have to stay out until 6, until everything opens again. We did this. Another thing about Paris is that it is full of random, seemingly functionless poles which line the road. Around chest height, the only function I found in them was that of something to jump over while intoxicated. This I did, until I racked myself and let my hip break my fall. No more pole jumping, but the night moved on towards my running around a Parisian rooftop in my socks. The hip still hurts.
I woke up this morning feeling surprisingly good, and went out to find a new pair of shoes. I found my Adrenalines (in yellow this time) at a store named Jogging Planet, and putting them on was like stepping on clouds. I have put 684.9 kilometers on my shoes, not including the walking in town once I arrive, or the mileage I had on them before I left. Feeling the comparison, my old shoes felt like they were made of rock. Only having one pair of shoes definitely decreases the lifespan of the shoe, as the foam never really has time to expand between runs. I feel bad to get rid of the shoes I have, knowing how far they have brought me...but this trip is forcing me to fight off some of my pack rat tendencies.
I also did my laundry, where I sat barefoot for an hour watching my clothes roll around. Now I'm sitting in a cozy apartment, getting ready for the days ahead with some quality rest. There is so much to see and do in Paris, it could take me years. I'm happy with just glazing the surface for now, and heading back into the country. In the morning I will head towards Brie-Comte-Robert, where I don't yet know where I will sleep. So it goes.