Bâle

We're off to Basel, Switzerland early today for 5 days. I'll be running a 12K in Alsace - La Ferretoise - on Sunday.

UPDATE: Arrived fine around 10am then over to Françoise's apartment, right on the Rhine, where we are staying tonight. The afternoon was Migros-shopping and the fall festival nearby. Tonight we're invited to dinner with our friends Peter and Sophie ... and their charming infant, Anastasia.

UPDATE: A late-night stop at Friends Bar - a typical Kleinbasel hangout - with Halloween revelers galore (actually one of the few places that seem to have any idea of HW). Odile was delighted ... seems one can still smoke INSIDE Swiss bars and restaurants.

We're off to Switzerland (early) tomorrow so we will miss a key event in town... but if you are in Paris (or can come) there is no reason you should miss the "Salon du Chocolat" which runs until November 2. So .... go ahead, indulge that guilty pleasure (I'm talking chocolate!)... and I expect comments to be posted here (after your visit)!

Bookbinding

A relaxing day at Vosves ... and dinner tonight, before heading down to Montigny-sur-Loing, with "the ladies" including Eloïse whose website is here (should you need her services).

Sweet Barack Obama (2)...

Read this ... and do the right thing on November 4.

One more thing YOU can do ... become a "follower" of this blog, merci, gracias, and thank you!

Vosves and points south

We're off to stay at Vosves this evening then a few days at Montigny (it's time to go buy wine in Bourgogne and then bottle it ourselves). Back in Paris mid-next week before heading to Switzerland for a fun run.

And MERCI to my first "follower", my brother René, who has won a week-end at Vosves. See, you all should have tried harder! (There are still prizes for the #2 and #3 followers)...

Sweet Barack Obama

Our friend, Alain A., had the great idea of re-writing the rock song "Sweet Home Alabama" with words more in keeping with "Sweet Barack Obama" ... so, here below is a YouTube link that'll let you see the "test" version. You'll surely note that you don't actually hear any words (Alain's working on then and we'll have the proto-version on here next week) but let us know what you think of this idea. Just add your comments!

Follow me quietly...

I've changed the layout with a new template (tell me what you think) and, more importantly, added the "Followers" gadget with will allow you, Dear Reader, to follow my postings more easily. Here's a short article on this function.

So ... go ahead and become a fan ... follow along!

I demonstrate, therefore I am ...

Off to the "Manifestation nationale dans l’éducation" with Denis - going from Place d’Italie to Bastille. See you along the way?

Maratona del centenario

Today is THE day, after months of training, to enjoy my first marathon in Italy ... and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dorando Pietri's Olympic "win".

UPDATE: I finished, in fairly good form, in 4h39m ... just behind a Ms Hayes! A funny twist to a truly fun run ... the Italians wrote it up on the web page linked here. Take a shot at reading it directly in the original language!

Carpi (race day minus 1)

We've driven down to the Modena area from Milan (grazie Gianni) and stopped (after checking out the lodgings at I Cippi) at Carpi, in the Piazza di Martiri (seen here in the photo) to pick up my race bib and Champion Chip (#5124) for tomorrow's Maratona d'Italia - celebrating the centenary of Dorando Pietri's "win" at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

This is a beautiful town and there are lots of runners wandering about - including some Englishmen dressed up as Dorando!

A nice 2 minute video overview of Carpi at this BBC link.

Happy Birthday, Odile!

Le gaucho Martín Fierro

Juan Carlos Rossi, our dear friend, has had his French translation of the first part of the epic poem "Martín Fierro" published - we highly recommend it and below are some links to articles and more information. Good reading - Bonne lecture !

Read a good article on his work here.

On sale: Librairie Espagnole - 7, rue Littré 75006 PARIS M°Montparnasse Bus 96 Tel : 01 4354 56 26

Closed Monday - Hours: 10h30-13h/14h-19h

And also: here (Not in catalog) and here.

ISBN 978-2-9522812-1-8 • 9,50 € • Régis Brauchli Editeur ... you can write to Juan Carlos here.

Nuit Blanche 2008

First launched in 2002, Paris Nuit Blanche (White Night) has become a hotly-anticipated annual celebration of all things art and culture in Paris. Attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, Nuit Blanche sees countless Paris galleries, museums, city halls, and even swimming pools open their doors all night to visitors-- with free entry.

We're headed out to experience some of what will he happening. Hoping especially to get to see: Patti Smith at the église Saint-Germain.

JPG's Paris

A recent New York Times article "Fashionista Paris" lays out Jean-Paul Gaultier's list of 15 places to go in Paris. Certainly one way to see Paris ... I'll have to work up my own list some day. For now I'd say my top 3 from his list are: 3, 4, 15 (with 11 a real toss-up for 3rd place).

You, Dear Reader, might want to peruse the "tour" below and add your own comments here.

Anyway, for your inspiration and for future reference here is:

WHERE TO GO (THE GAULTIER TOUR)

1. Crazy Horse Paris, 12, avenue George V; Eighth; 33-1-4723-3232; www.lecrazyhorseparis.fr; The show, including a half bottle of Champagne, or two drinks, starts at 70 euros a person.

2. Bal du Moulin Rouge, 82, boulevard de Clichy; 18th, 33-1-5309-8282; www.moulin-rouge.com. The show begins at 9 p.m. and costs 99 euros, including a half-bottle of Champagne. An 11 p.m. show costs 89 euros.

3. La Grande Mosquée de Paris, 2 bis, place du Puits de l’Ermite; Fifth; 33-1-4535-9733; tea room: 33-1-4331-1814; www.mosquee-de-paris.org.

4. Grande Galerie de l’Evolution, 36, rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire; Fifth; 33-1-4079-5479 or 33-1-4079-5601

5. Galeries de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie Comparée, 2, rue Bouffon; Fifth; 33-1-4079-5479; www.mnhn.fr. Admission is 8 euros.

6. Le Jules Verne, Eiffel Tower, second platform, Avenue Gustave Eiffel; Seventh; 33-1-4555-6144; www.lejulesverne-paris.com. Prix-fixe dinner 190 euros.

7. Casa Olympe, 48, rue St-Georges; Ninth; 33-1-4285-2601

8. Angélina, 226, rue de Rivoli; First; 33-1-4260-8200.

9. Hermès, 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré; Eighth; 33-1-4017-4717; wwwhermes.com.

10. Jean-Paul Gaultier boutique, 6, rue Vivienne; Second; 33-1-4286-0505; www.jeanpaulgaultier.com.

11. La Pagode cinema, 57, bis rue de Babylone; Seventh, 33-1-4555-4848.

12. Théâtre du Châtelet, 1, place du Châtelet; First; 33-1-4028-2840; wwwchatelet-theatrecom.

13. Musée Grévin, 10, boulevard Montmartre; Ninth; 33-1-4770-8505; www.musee-grevin.com. 19.50 euros.

14. Le Grand Rex cinema, 1, boulevard Poissonnière; Second; 33-1-4236-8393; www.legrandrex.com.

15. Marché aux Puces de Clignancourt; Avenue de la Porte de Clignancourt; 18th. Located in the north of Paris, this is most easily reached by cab. Make sure to visit the Paul-Bert and the Serpette markets.

After a late departure (due to last week's fire in the EuroTunnel the trains are at only about 60% of usual since only the south tunnel is open). Arrival in London at the new Eurostar station, Saint Pancras mid-afternoon with the trip taking about an hour longer than usual ... but, no problem, since we had packed sandwiches (and a couple of bottles of wine!) and we had a very comfortable voyage.

A quick cab ride got us over to the Saint David's Hotel in Paddington - a fairly nice place run by Alex and his parents (from Cyprus) in an interesting area of London (equidistant between Hyde Park and Regent Park (one or the other as my planned Sunday long run option).

The afternoon has us exploring the area on foot and stopping at the Sir Alexander Fleming pub (he discovered penicillin at nearby St Mary's Hospital).

Afterwards Odile and her mother returned to the hotel and I went out for a 10k run east along Marylebone Road. The main challenge was to remember to look the "wrong" way before crossing the streets!

To wrap up the day we went to a nearby Scottish pub (Fleming was a Scot) called the Rob Roy - the name (also a recall of our two good friends in San Francisco!) and the Aberdeen FC shirt on the wall tip one off to this being quite a Scottish venue - made me nostalgic to return to Edinburgh. We had a nicer dinner and later Nick (the groom's oldest brother), down from Cambridge with wife and kids, met us for a closing "snoot".

Giant Map of Europe

My run today took me out to the Eiffel Tower and I finally got to walk on the giant map of Europe - the fastest way to vist all the counties of the EU! Try it if you're in town - easy ... and educational.

Canal running

One of the nice things of being at the "country house" at Montigny is that I have a wide choice of running paths - besides the profusion of possibilities in the forest.Today I ran 8km along the "Canal du Loing"

In total the canal du Loing is 53 km long and joins the "canal de Briare" (at Montargis) to the Seine (at Saint Mammès), via theLoing (between Moret and Saint Mammès).

Longest training run

In preparation for next month's marathon I did my longest training run today - 35 km from Montigny to Melun (just a marathon away from Paris - another 41 km). Ouf! I am a bit stiff ... any self-massage tips out there?!

Anyway, so far all is going well and Italy should be a fun run (well, more o r less).

Afterwards at Vosves.

Market Day

Noonish market at Nemours then apéro "chez les voisins" before a nice fireside (yes, it is rainy and very cool) dinner.

" Les rues, la place et les maisons de Nemours ont conservé la disposition, la dimension, l'irrégularité et la gaieté du Moyen-Age… Rien n'y est sublime, tout y est charmant. Nemours a tout à la fois le rayonnement des premières années et la paix des derniers jours. C'est un de ceslieux comme on en rêve pour commencer la vie ou la finir." - Victor HUGO

Almost Land's End...

Odile and I are visiting Quimiac for a couple of days ... just beautiful! We're between the two outreachs, right on the edge - more news later.