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.

Paris Plage opens today

For the past few summers, the banks of the Seine in Paris have been transformed into a beach-- Paris Plage. This offers Parisians and tourists a rather surprising plot twist when strolling along the river.

For several weeks, the roads along the Seine are closed, and a "beach" is created. Tons of sand are crated in, potted palm trees are placed, beach chairs and umbrellas are arranged. The typical Paris dress code is reduced substantially. :-0

This year, the plage visits Paris for a month, from 21 July to 21 August 2008. Don't forget your bathing suit!

UPDATE: To kick things off there's a free concert tonight (by the Ensemble orchestral de Paris at 6pm, followed by a giant picnic. We may be going.

Disneyland Paris

I spent a fun day with Gladys, her 3 daughters and her nephew at Disneyland Paris; We had a ball - even though I found the Space Mountain attraction rather jolting!

The weather was just splendid and we did most of the major rides - including some I hadn't done before (waiting on some lines can be noxious however, as attested by the "Buzz Light-Peo" incident!) ...

I left a bit earlier than the others as our friend jean-Yves arrived sooner than expected from Uzès (and I still had to do my training run - which I finished just before midnight).

Thanks to Josean for the photo here which I "borrowed" from his facebook album.

Ingrid Bétancourt ¡libre!

After over 6 years of captivity at the hands of the FARC in Columbia ... Ingrid has been freed.

Celebration starting at 5pm at the Paris City Hall . We'll be going ... see you there?

Ciao bello ... and come back soon!

Rob heads back to San Fran tomorrow so we're having a final drink and then dinner near his place on the rue Montorgueil.

After drinks at the outdoor terrace of L’Esplanade Saint-Eustache we checked out a couple of places very nearby (including a Russian restaurant that looks promising - especially in colder weather) but finally we ended up halfway down on rue Mandar, a few minutes walk north, at Dar Wafa, for a very nice and convivial Moroccan dinner.

Marche des Fiertés + Happy Birthday Regina!

We're off to take a quick look at this year's Gay Pride Parade (which takes off from nearby Denfert-Rocherau) then taking the tram east (a bit beyond Chinatown) to celebrate our dear friend Regina's big 5-0!

UPDATE: On the right a photo of Regina and the collective birthday gift we all gave her - a spiffy, red scooter to run around Paris! Optimo!

Fête de Musique 2008

The 27th annual Fête de la Musique will see us around 8pm near Métro station Avron to hear our Brazilian friends play at the French Kawa bar in the 20th arrondissement (go east one block on Avenue d'Avron to 6 rue Planchat) - hopefully we'll see (some of) you there tonight ... or elsewhere, as it promises to be a loooonnnggg night.

Only good luck...

The "Gros Caillou Quartier d’Arts" association is holding their annual art event called "Jardin d'Arts" and this year there is a good selection of artists, including our friend Eva gathered around the theme of "Art Environnement".

As usual it takes place in the gardens surrounding the church called l’Eglise Saint-Jean, at 147 rue de Grenelle, in the 7th arrondissement.

The vernissage is tonight Friday 13 ( a good way to fend off any bad luck vibes) from 6pm until 9:30pm - the show continues tomorrow from 11am to 8pm. See you there tonight?