April completely flew by in a whirlwind of scientific data analysis and summaries for a funding application, two scientific retreats, and even my first series of emails with labs where I might like to do my post-doc. Between the late hours tweaking graphs and charts, surviving hours of back-to-back science talks (mostly in English, luckily), and perfecting my own scientific French (hint: even after three and a half years in France, it's not so easy), the month didn't leave much time for play. Ironically enough, in one of my free moments, I made my way to a museum where Peter and I even signed up for annual membership! The museum, of course, was the Palais de la Decouverte (Discovery Palace), Paris's science museum. ... Yes, I am inevitably a science nerd. I can run but I can't hide from myself. Though running was a big highlight of this month for me! (Pardon the cheesy transition.) But all that to bring up the Paris Marathon which, it turns out, is a lot of fun.
Now, let's be clear, I did not run a marathon, but Peter and I did run *in* one. This all happened after our friend, who actually ran the marathon, encouraged anybody in our lunch gang to hop in with her on race day if we were so compelled. Curiosity piqued, Peter and I braved the Paris metro in sweats early one chilly Sunday morning (no, they didn't revoke my right to live in the country) and we caught our friend early in the race for 3k from Place de la Concorde to Bastille. I'd never realized anyone could simply hop in and out of a marathon! Pleased with ourselves, we wandered from Bastille through the Marais and found an awesome coffee shop, La Caféothèque, 50-52 rue de l'Hotel de Ville (so sad I didn't have my camera!).
After sipping coffees and fully awakening at an hour when I'd normally still be out cold on a Sunday morning, we found our way to where the marathon wrapped back through the city center. As our friend ran past, we popped back into the race. Surrounded by throngs of runners, cheering crowds, waving signs, and live music, the nearly palpable energy carried us down city streets normally flowing with traffic. We ran a full extra 7k, way more than I'd anticipated, from the Marais until well past the Eiffel Tower where the next lunch gang member took over. I could nearly see the motivation for running the whole thing. (But let's not kid ourselves, I'm no runner these days: after the day's 10k, my legs were happy to remind me of this.) Peter and I hopped out of the race just in time to pick up some flowers and catch a metro to the finish line. We cheered on our friend one last time and then met up with the whole gang of friends who'd brought along a picnic and prepared a congratulatory song. I'd never realized how festive a marathon could be. And I'm pretty sure Peter and I have the perfect marathon strategy complete with coffee breaks and metro rides.
Well, that's my best effort at my month in a nutshell! Here are some photo highlights to wrap things up:
 |
| The weather finally let us enjoy some time in the Luxembourg Gardens after our Saturday yoga class. |
 |
| We used our time in the gardens to share a raspberry mascarpone pastry which was simply to die for. |
 |
| The Luxembourg Gardens were filled with a strange flower blossoming from hairy buds. |
 |
| Now that it's nearly warm, we can open the windows and enjoy the fresh air! |
 |
| Images from Roscoff and the train ride through Brittany during one of my science retreats this month. |
 |
| It's not all bad to be so far north. The sun is setting around 9pm nowadays: love those long European days. |
 |
| This was a good idea. |
 |
| And by the month's end there were indeed April flowers and blue skies for my morning walks to work. |
No comments:
Post a Comment