The Road to Worlds Goes Through Paris

Monday, September 12, 2022

Day 10, Sunday

We are over the ocean headed back to Atlanta. I wrote yesterday on the train and I had forgotten just how tiny airplane seats are. I'm like a T-Rex trying to type in this seat. No worries though. I will be home soon. Yesterday I got to do a little solo travel back in Paris. Kim ended up on a flight from Bordeaux to Paris and decided to stay at a hotel at the airport. She was quite happy to have a comfy bed and a short walk to the airport. I had a lot of fun with a Lime bike running around Paris. I finally made it to the Louvre. I'm glad to finally check this box. I saw the Mona Lisa, though I'm pretty sure I saw it when it visited the High some years ago. I visited Victory and felt a kindred spirit with the Greeks. After a month of Smithsonians this spring, even the Louvre seemed a touch over hyped. But there are some interesting finds inside. There's a Moai from Easter Island! The grounds of the museum are absolutely gorgeous. From outside the grounds, the Louvre looks like a fortress, but inside there are gardens, a plaza, and a mall, as well as a world renown museum. This place is crazy.

I biked back to my hotel to get a phone charger. From there I decided to see Place des Victories and found Café du Centre nearby. This was the perfect people-watching café for me to end my journey. A coffee and a negroni later, and I was ready to get back on the bike. I was heading about 20 minutes south to Montparnasse to meet up with Chris for dinner. This bike ride was so much fun. Terrifying at times but really great. There are bike lanes all over, but they zig and zag out and around. Sometimes on the right with a barrier, sometimes part of the bus lane. Then suddenly the bus lane is the middle lane the street. There are one lane roads for cars that are two lanes for bikes. And all the while pedestrians, cars, bikes, scooters, and motorcycles are weaving in and out everywhere. There are so many traffic lights it's impossible for me to know who has the right of way at times. I try to stay with the pack, but then without warning, the pack splits into five different directions, narrowly avoiding large crashes. It's a beautiful dance on the verge of failure. I loved it.

Chris and I went to Papy au Forneaux in Montparnasse. We were happy to find a place away from the main tourist area that was open. And this place was a treat. The intention of the restaurant is to agree to a menu selection and share it like family. I'm not sure when Parisians eat vegetables. Most of the menus I've seen all over France have been bread, meat, and cheese. We were excited to see options with veggies and agreed to our options easily: a spinach tart, chicken with potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms, as well as a mousse dessert. These were all done in what I think of as French traditional. It was all fabulous. I am even beginning to like carrots. Merci beaucoup, France!
I was happy to spend some time chatting with Chris. Often the team is in big groups, and it feels somewhat difficult to connect with individuals.

I enjoyed my bike ride back to the hotel. Over four miles of weaving through the bike and bus lanes, this time with less traffic. I stopped to see the Seine under the full moon. I am quite pleased with my time in France. I do appreciate the pace of life here, though it can make travel a little more, well exciting anyway. I have also decided to rent an electric bike everywhere I go on vacation from now on. This is absolutely the best way to see a place.

I made the trek back to CDG this morning and enjoyed my last French coffee and croissant at the airport. I'm happy to be headed home; I feel like I've been gone a year. I miss Michael and look forward to seeing the folks that didn't also make this journey. Thanks to those that did. This was a fabulous experience. Je t'embrasse...

Sunday, September 10, 2022

Day 9, Saturday

I just sat down on the train in Bordeaux headed to Paris. The mixed 8+ just raced in Libourne, narrowly missing the gold. I'm devastated for them. Hope it was a good race.
I won't bury the lead here. I got gold in my single yesterday. It was surreal. I was looking behind me at the finish trying to find the winning boat I had obviously lost in my vision. But they weren't there. It was me. Super cool. Big thanks to my team for all their help and support.
It was a long day. Kim and I had a pair race early in the day and then four plus hours to kill before her quad and my single. We raced down to A and we did well. I had several bad stokes and a crab in the last ten meters, but overall it was a good race and we didn't finish DFL. So that's a win here.

There was of course the pre-race chaos for the single. Carmie, Kim, Chris, and Bleu went out in their quad before me. So I was on my own to get my oars, boat, and number. No problem. I'm carrying my oars around and went to pick up my bow number only to realize I'm not listed as a boat in the race. WTF?! The ladies there sent me to crew changes in registration, and they were able to sort it out fairly quickly. But there was a moment of panic that seems to be the norm before a race at this venue. I collected myself and my items, managed to watch the quad race and grabbed Pat to help me launch. On the way to the docks I found out all the trains to Paris Sunday are fully booked so I might not make my flight home Monday. Ok cool. Good to know, but I need to focus.

I had a good warmup to the start and chatted with a woman from the Netherlands who would race in the next lane. There were a few issues on the course that caused the race before mine to be delayed. They were already locked on the start boats, and I just kept thinking how happy I was to be floating in pre-race instead.
My start wasn't perfect, but not bad for me. The stakeboat holder gave me a couple steering hand signals on my first few strokes to make sure I didn't go too far into the next lane. (oops!) By then I was in my high ten and looked down to see I was at 40spm 2:05 split, and it felt great. I know for certain I can't race at 40 so I settled to 34 and wathcing my splits (about 2:09) pulled it down to 32spm 2:05 split. I can hear John Pearson in my head saying 5 strokes at a time, but I resolved to 20 at a time. It was about 60 strokes to halfway. I took another 20 and started my sprint. I checked the boats around me, and I think I'm in the lead. Try not to think about that. At 750m I realize it's mine to lose (except for that ghost boat ahead of me that I can't find) and decide to count to 40 strokes. Always count more than you need. The woman from the Netherlands is making her move. But I can hear my team yelling at me, and there's no letting up. I cross the finish and start looking for the ghost boat. The Dutch racer finally tells me congratulations, and the realization starts to settle in.

The thing about Worlds is if you win your heat, you win. Every heat is a final. When you finish first, you row over to a dock in front of the stands and they put your medal on you in the boat. I'm still can't belive I've won. The whole way to the medal dock I'm looking around trying to make sure I should go over there. Atlanta has lungs though, and there's no doubting how excited the team is. The crew on the dock is great, and they see the disbelief in my eyes. They verify my credentials, shake my hand, and place a medal over my head. So super cool. Thanks, Kim for running onto the dock to take pics! The whole team meets me at the dock, takes the boat and oars from me as we all walk back to the rental tents. Falcon has been keeping a tally of golds won in their boats, and I'm happy to add onto the number.
For all the issues we had with oars and boats in several races, the Falcon single I rowed twice was amazing. It fit me really well and was like rowing on glass even in the chop. Having brand new Concept2 oars set perfectly with my favorite handles didn't hurt either.

The team got a bottle of champagne and hung out with me at the venue for a while. Kim and I then rode into the square in Libourne to meet up with August for dinner. After celebratory drinks at the bar in the middle of the square we ended up at Sabora Burgers. I had some great charcuterrie and cheese at the venue in my down time, and at this point, we all just need a burger. I had the best salad I've ever seen in my life: bib lettuce, oil and vinegar, grilled slices of eggplant and zucchini, and phyllo dough wrapped around goat cheese medalions, pan-fried, with balsamic and honey drizzle. Wow. My "burger" was also delicious though not really a burger. There was duck burger on the menu. I love duck and this area is known for it, so that is a must. I expected ground duck (there was duck sausage at the venue, so I'm not crazy). It was slices of duck breast on a burger bun. Delicious even if not quite a true burger.
Libourne is not quite the bustling town it was made out to be. August couldn't get an uber back to his place so he hopped on Kim's bike and we headed back to ours. Sterling is an wonderful person and offered to drive him from there. I'd like to take a minute here to say how incredibly helpful Sterling has been for all of us while in Libourne. In addition, her mother (also named Sterling) stayed at the house and joined us at the regatta, cheering and helping out the whole time. These two women are fabulous. Thank you both for being so positive and helpful.

Day 10, Sunday

We spent a good bit of time last night trying to sort out how to get to Paris today. I could leave Bordeaux at 8am but I couldn't leave Libourne before 9am. Maybe we can get a flight from Bordeaux. A bus. Maybe we need to switch our flights home. All made more complicated if you are in the mixed 8+ at 1030a and can't leave Libourne until after that. All trains full. Normal Libourne chaos. Kim woke up around five this morning and bought a flight. I woke up at 0530 and unicorn-like, there was a train seat available at 0952 from Libourne, transfer in Bordeaux. Whew. Sterling, of course, had offered to follow me to the bike rental with all my stuff and then take me to the train station. Not surprisingly, the bike rental did not open on time this morning. After trying to call, I left my bike chained to their railing and sent the keys through Sterling then Chris back to Kim to return with her bike later. Nothing is straightforward in this town. That all went to plan, however. She is headed to the airport now. I am almost back in Paris. Hoping to finally see the Louvre today. À bientôt!

Friday, September 9, 2022

Day 8, Friday

Today was all business. Up early and at the venue all day. It was also full of stress. My comedy of errors yesterday was a good primer for today. All the ladies here were in an 8+ this morning. I love a coxed boat. It is the absolute opposite of a single. There is nothing to do from the middle of an eight but pull hard. In a single you are the bow, the stroke, the cox and the middle four. A woman named Sally from the Avalon team was our coxswain. This woman is amazing. She met us at the boat rental where we were in the midst of full chaos determining which oars and boat were ours for the race. She jumped right in and helped us get things situated before her own team. She ran off to help them and then came back to us with an inspiring talk: chaos is part of international racing; everything is fine; give me all your stress and focus on the race; you are great rowers and you can do this. Just fantastic and absolutely what everyone needed.

We are literally sitting in our Airbnb right now discussing how awesome she was. We were later than we would have liked getting on the water. She went off-book on our warmup, running through drills none of us had ever done. This helped break the stress as we were all so focused on what to do in the drill we couldn't keep fuming about passed problems.
We had a great start and were second at the halfway mark. A crab around 600 meters stopped us, but Sally pulled us all back together. She had us do a rolling start and we managed to pass two boats in the last 300 meters.

The men's team won gold in the 4-. Congrats, gentlemen! We have now gone through enough disorder in the leadup to races that Kim and I spent a long while sorting our pair rental for tomorrow. They again had us in a lightweight boat. We also have special rigging for our pair, but I've hopefully made friends with a couple folks at Falcon and will bring them coffee in the morning. Bribery never hurts. My single should be good to go. That boat isn't racing for a couple hours before mine. Last chance for a gold.

In a beautiful moment of international solidarity, there was a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at the venue this afternoon. Flags were lowered to half mast, and God Save the Queen was played. We had just pushed off for a quad and it was beautiful to see the entire event frozen for a moment.
Our quad was a heartbreaker. We had some problems but managed to get passed a couple boats before the end. Hopefully all the jitters are gone now and tomorrow's racing goes better.

We were all physically and emotionally drained after today. We ran to a local bakery to grab some takeout for dinner. How I wish this bakery existed at home. Great salads, sandwiches, delectable sweet treats, quiches, pizza, you name it. I hammered a quiche and a sandwich before the best cookie I've ever had in my life. My legs are cramping and I'm going to stretch and go to bed early. Last chance for medals tomorrow.

PS- did I mention the dishwasher full of food in the house?When we arrived the other day, the ladies informed us of an ant issue leading to all of the normally countered food items to be placed in the dishwasher. Ingenious, but also an interesting picture for posterity.

Friday, September 8, 2022

Day 7, Thursday (Update)

After races yesterday, Kim and I rode our bikes out to Saint-Emilion, the midieval city a few kilometers from our place. This bike ride was amazing. There were few cars and the road rides straight through the vineyards. A gorgeous view of the region. Saint-Emilion was a walled city, and some are still present. The last bit riding into town was looking over the walls at the vineyards. It's the most beautiful bike ride I've ever done.

We walked around town checking out the church and the winding cobblestone roads. We found a dive bar where the bathroom is down a spiral staircase and feels like you're being sent to the dungeon. We rested there for a drink and tried to find a place for dinner. There is a strange siesta in France that I can't quite grasp. It may be the exact same timeframe as in Spain, but this one throws me for some reason. Restaurants close around 2:30pm and don't reopen until at least 7pm. We checked a few places but needed reservations. So we decided to stroll towards several restaurants and see what we found.
I liked one down the most dangerous road of cobblestones. I'm not sure how you walk this town when it rains. The stones are rounded by years of rain and walking, and the entire place is a hill. La Côte Braisée had a fountain on its small terrace. The menu posted outside was small but had some three-course options that I liked. We asked if we'd be able to get a table without a reservation. The reply came in the now familar French tone, yes, but don't rush. It was a quarter to seven, and they really don't like to be bothered before opening. We decided to keep going, and I made it about ten paces down the cobblestones before stopping again.

A sweater in a shop across the street called to me. It was a sweater Audrey Horne of Twin Peaks would be proud to wear. It turned out to be too much wool and too many euros, but the shopkeeper was a lovely woman who was happy to practice her English. Kim and I did some shopping, each of us leaving with a cute sweater. By now the restaurant was open and we went back across the street. We had a lovely dinner. I got the duck which the region is known for. We ate quicker than the French would approve of in order to get back on the bikes before dark. They have lights, but I wanted to see the view again on our way home. It was even prettier with the sun setting and the full moon above the other horizon. Kim reminded me again that the bikes were the best part. She's not wrong.
Off for racing now! I'll add pictures later. The internet has not been kind the last few days and the process is taking more time than I'm willing to give.

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Day 6, Wednesday

Yesterday was a travel day. And one of those travel days when you remember that things are easier at home where you know how everything works. We got out of Arcachon with no issues, on the regional train to Libourne. Other than a poor internet connection on my phone, the trip was easy peasy. We arrived in Libourne, the industrial town where the regatta is taking place. There were no ubers, no taxis, and no info on the buses that kept passing us. Kim even tried to rent a car at one point, but no cars either. After a couple hours of trying to sort it (there's a bar across the street from the train station, so don't feel too bad for us), we finally got the one uber in town to get us and our luggage to the team Airbnb and then to the bike rental place.
Kim has told me a few times now that her favorite part of the trip was riding Lime bikes around Paris. So she found an electric bike rental here in Libourne. We got there around 4pm and they told us they could absolutely rent us two bikes for the weekend. 2.5 hours later. Ça bon. We will just hang out in old town Libourne until the bikes are ready.
It's a nice town with an very old square. We grabbed an early dinner at a hole in the wall sandwich place. Finally our bikes were ready and we went back to the airbnb to settle in with the other ladies. Not an overly-eventful day, but necessary to get to the regatta.

I did try to get the link to watch the races. I spent a fair amount of time at the house looking for it. I finally found something promising, a link that said livestream World Masters 2022. The page that came up was in French but said a free account would be needed. That's fine, I'll just put my credentials on the blog for everyone to use. After the first page of signing up, a second page states that the fee is 1€. No problem. I have 1€. After that, I was informed that in 5 days I'll be charged for my new French television subscription. Fine, I'll deal with that later. Sadly though, when I go back to login, the whole process starts over. So, sorry, folks. No link. But I'm really going to enjoy my French TV.

Day 7, Thursday

Kim and I were up early today and headed to the venue to get checked in. The bikes were a fantastic choice to get around the area. Traffic in town is a little crazy with one lane bridges and random one-lane sections of road, but we made it safe and sound. We got through all of our check-in logistics and watch a few races. We are renting our boats from Falcon. I've never even seen one of these, but so far they've had at least 15 gold medals in this 2 day old regatta. Sterling and I helped the first quad get out for their race. Kim, Chris, Sarah, and Pat were looking really good but a crab in the last 250 put a damper on this race. My single is the only other for the day.
I had to get the to switch the single they had set aside for me. The original one was not a heavyweight, and I am. No problem, there is a boat in your weight class that is available. It is being rowed an hour before your race, but it will get back.
Yep. The comedy of errors that comes next was to be predicted. I noticed before the single left on it's earlier mission that I would not have a place to put my speedcoach on it. There's a suction cup option that does the trick, but none were available from the company or the team. Cool, will figure that out at some point.

I have oars and meet a kind Frenchman from Falcon who sets them exactly as I have them at home. At this point, it's time to launch and I'm looking for the boat. And now everyone present from the team is looking for the boat. We are lurking at the recovery docks checking the numbers on every single that comes in. Thanks, team! Your stalking skills are fantastic and greatly appreciated! Kim and Sterling finally retreive my boat from it's previous user and help me launch. We attempt to duct tape the speedcoach in, but I'm frazzled and irritated and I hand everything to Sterling and take off to row it blind. I raced to the start line. I wasn't late, but I had very little time to spare. I hate racing this way.
It was a good race. Not sure how fast I was going or at what rate, but it felt pretty good. I could not see where I was in the pack most of the way down. I held myself from sprinting at the halfway point. I finally hit my sprint with 250m left. I knew I was second but wasn't sure how far behind. Thank you, Sterling, for the video. So close. Another 50 meters and I would have had her. Four more races to go. One more single. Four more chances for a medal. Off to bed now. We have an 8+ in the morning. Will tell you about our ride to Saint Emilion tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Day 5, Tuesday

I'm packing up and making breakfast and travel sandwiches for the journey to Libourne today. Yesterday we took the ferry over to Cap Ferret. If Arcachon is the French resort town, Cap Ferret seems to be the Britsh one. Much more English spoken there. It is a beautiful cape, and we walked straight across from the jetty on the bay side out to Plage de l'Horizon to see the Atlantic. It's not often I get to stand on this side of it.
The beach was beautiful with golden sand and crashing waves. This is a surfer's beach, and the tide was rolling in with force. Littered all along the beach dunes were huge concrete blocks covered in graffiti giving the beach an distopian feel. Kim mentioned Planet of the Apes while I thought of By the Waters of Babylon. I have no idea what these concrete masses once were. They seem to be solid but they all appear to be tossed onto the beach like an ancient and giant Yahtzee game.

Contrasting that vibe, however, was the cute beach café/tiki hut up the hill of the dunes just a bit. (This is still France, cafés are a thing.) We stood in the crashing waves for a bit. The water was quite cold and a rip current was obvious, no need to swim in this. I went for a walk down the beach towards nothing but more concrete dice. With no one else camped down this way and the end of the cape too far to see, the distopian movie vibe grew more and more. I picked up shells here at the end of the world and found a really beautiful mural on one of the random blocks. Standing underneath it to get the photo was unnerving. I know intelligently that it has been in that spot and would not instantly roll down the sand towards me, but still, I did not want to linger here more than necessary. They feel precarious when standing beside them.

I walked back to Kim and laid down on my new beach mat that we found at the bodega the day before. This is better than a beach towel and I close my eyes for a few. I'm listening to the crashing waves and look up to see just how temendous they are when I notice that one is still coming at me. Yep, still headed this way. Ok, now we need to get up. I'm not really making words, but Kim knows the tone in my voice after a recent near miss in a pair; and she levetates off her mat and grabs her items. We move well up the beach almost to the dunes and set up shop again. Kim goes to get us fresh smoothies at the tiki hut and while she's gone the ocean lets me know that this beach is no longer the place to be. A huge wave travels all the way up the beach. I manage to grab our bags and then am scrambling to gather shoes and mats. The tiki hut is ten feet above and I'm sure everyone was dying laughing. I actually know this to be fact as we spent some time in the nice chairs at the hut and laughed at the others who had similar problems afterwards.

We walked back to the bay side for lunch. The Bassin d'Arcachon is known for oysters. You can see the oyster farms all around the bay from the jetties and on the ferry. We found a nice restaurant Pinasse Café near the jetty entrance. I of course got the oysters. They were amazing, as good as I've ever had. Kim had a vermicelli salad and chicken satay. It was also delicious, and she said probably the best lunch she had tasted so far. We bought a few things at the shops near the beach and then headed back across the bay. A fantastic shower and a quick nap and we were refreshed and ready to go out again. We went to do some shopping here in Arcachon. Back to our fancy food store we located the other day and then finally, an open grocery store. We stocked up on provisions and decided to meet back up for dinner after a while.

Arcachon rises up from the beach into the hills quickly. Parc Mauresque is built into one of these hills. I passed through here on my way to Observatoire Sainte-Cécile. And then through sevaral interesting staircases. You know I love a weird flight of stairs. On the way to the tower I went through a dark set of five or six flights that lead to a flight of large stones that looked more like a dry riverbed that lead to a blue bridge that lead to the tower. I knew the observatory was just a tower with a view, as opposed to a midieval tower that has been here waiting for me to climb it. I did not know that the spiral staircase that is the tower would sway quite so much. I love a spiral staircase, but do appreciate when the middle sections of them are slightly sturdier. The climb was worth it though. What a beautiful view of the bay and this very charming town. Off a short distance I could see the Notre Dame Basilica of Arcachon. After enjoying the view a moment longer, I headed for the church. I never remember architecture styles or names, but I love an intricately built, old church. The back of this one is built into a neighborhood, and I came up from that side. I came around to the main road and saw the striking beauty of the entranceway before heading off to meet Kim for dinner.

I found Kim at La Table du Boucher, the butcher's table. After our bare burgers the night before, we were both looking for a steak and the butcher seems to be the place to look. Our waiter was super friendly and happy to practice his English. I enjoy the conversations when both sides are speaking the unfamiliar and the exchange is in two languages. I'm a nerd.

We had a camembert appetizer, baked to gooey perfection in a cute little stoneware cup. (Missy, I thought of you, this one was fantastic!) The steak selection wasn't vast and we both opted for the entrecôte, flank steak. It was good for flank, but the best part for me was the sides. French roasted, mixed vegetables: eggplant, carrots, celery, onion, and pepper as well as mashed potatoes. I really didn't want desert but we looked the menu and I've been thinking of French toast since we arrived. The Pain Perdu here was the best thing I've tasted in a while. I need to find a recipe for this. I'm guessing they made it with brioche. The interior had that stodgy gooeyness that is my favorite thing about bread. There was a sweet, concentrated cream sauce on top and the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had. I don't even like ice cream. What kind of magic are they putting in the food?

Kim and I keep discussing the unicorn feeling of this trip. We haven't over-scheduled anything; and we have just let things unfold, taking opportunities as they arrive. This is my favorite way to travel in general. Each day so far has been a treat of great experiences, conversations, and food. Pain perdu was one more along this line.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Day 4, Monday

Yesterday morning we were back hard at vacation early. We planned to rent bikes and ride out to Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe. I read in the Lonely Planet that this would be a great way to go see the Dune and Kim agreed. We stopped at Brasserie Le Repetto for a quick coffee and croissant for me. This was the easiest and closet open place. It was fine, but seriously, they rolled up the sidewalks Sunday evening and several places did not open again until Tuesday. I was happy to see coffee.
But the bike rental opened on time and we headed off on the 8km journey to the Dune. This was such a fantastic ride! Almost the entire way was a dedicated bike path. Mostly flat, the path ran the ocean boardwalk quite a bit. It also ran through the small towns between here and there. There were many high end homes as well as cute restaurants and stores.
There is one big hill just as we arrived to the Dune which was just enough exercise on a fixed gear bike. We parked the bikes and headed up the path with many other tourists, mostly French but also hearing lots of Spanish in the crowd.
There are seasonally built stairs to the top of the Dune, but I took off through the sand. Kim opted to sit this one out in the shade of a beach tree, a good option in this crowd; the line up the stairs was slow and congested.

The slope here was not as steep as the Te Paki Sand Dunes in New Zealand that Mike and I climbed several years ago. But honestly, we were there in the off season, and possibly the entry point is in a better place during the high season. Once I got away from the crowd coming up the stairs, there were several slopes off the Pilat that were alarmingly steep. There was a great view over the Atlantic and out over Cap Ferret. The Dune went on for quite a while. I could see a second peak off to my left. I walked that way for ten minutes or so before realizing it was probably a thirty minute walk. I wasn't up for an hour plus hike through the Dune this morning, so I decided to head back. Whereas in NZ, folks toboggan down the dunes, here you see teenagers running at full speed down the sheer slopes. I decided a sled was a better way to careen down a sand slope. Without one handy, I opted to walk back and a normal pace. I have races coming up.
Pat, Sarah, and Chris drove up to the Dune as we were walking out. We agreed to find a good lunch spot for them to meet us after their hike up.

Left to right, Chris, Pat, Kim, Sarah, me.

Etche Ona -- Pyla-Sur-Mer was the closest restaurant and exactly what we were looking for. Kim had noticed the bodega across the street on the way in. We needed provisions, water, and a beach towel; and this store looked promising for all three. Etche Ona has a large patio and a great waistaff. We were the practice-your-English commodity and a few different waiters came by to say hello to us. Kim started with dessert, watermelon carpaccio: paper thin slices of fresh watermelon with lime gelato, lime zest, and pomegranate molasses. I have to remember this, so light and refreshing. Kim and Chris got pizzas, Pat and Sarah salads, and I got the lunch special: a salad, pork with basmati rice, and strawberry melba. Everything was delightful.

After returning the bikes, we sat at our place for a while watching French cartoons and relaxing with provisions of wine and new flavored Bugles. Chip flavors around the world are one of my favorite parts of travel. We went out to the nortwest corner of the peninsula to watch a beautiful sunset.
For dinner we were back to the beachside group of restaurants. I believe we were at Arcachon 1900 the first night. Last night we went to the place next door to order the ever-so-popular steak and frite. It wasn't on the menu, but it's so French the server said of course, no problem. A little while later we were brought a plate with a hamburger-- ground meat patty only, no cheese, bun, or veg-- and fries. So, lesson learned: stick to the menu. It was tasty in any case, and we called it a night.

Today we're taking the ferry to Cap Ferret to do some exploring and lay on the beach.There's also a couple spots here in Arcachon I would like to see. Tomorrow we head towards Libourne and plan to hit Saint Emilion before settling down for races. More soon, bisous.

Day 3, Sunday

Monday, September 5, 2022

The Atlantic Coast

We just got back to our place from dinner. I am so happy we came to Arcachon. This is a lovely little town. We arrived late yesterday afternoon and walked about ten minutes from the train station to our Airbnb where Peggy, our host met us. It's a cute apartment with most of what we need.
We quickly discovered that everyone in this resort town is French and drove in with whatever they needed. There are no beach towels in the unit, apparently people pack those in; and apparently, those are not for sale around here either.

Although, who actually knows what's for sale, as most of the stores have been closed for Sunday/Monday. Still though, adorable beach town. Last night we walked the beach and then into town, looking for provisions but really just taking in the town. We were both tired from the journey, especially after the whole stress of missing the direct train here. While switching tickets was easy enough, I no longer trusted my ability to get on a train and was 20 minutes early to a regional train that only arrived five minutes before its own departure. Also, this was the shortest train I've seen in a while and we had to run from one end of the platform to the other to ensure we made in the five minutes of boarding time we were allowed.

Regardless, we made it here. We grabbed quick drink at Le Mauresque on our first lap through town. While still looking for provisions we stumbled into Le Comptoir Arachonnais where we grabbed a bunch of high end snacks for not much money. Pickled and grilled vegetables, tiny cakes in a jar, sesame breadsticks and dip, as well as wine and flavored rum. A great spread for snacks and breakfast! There are four restaurants all in a line facing the bay. It's actually difficult to tell which one of them you are in. We asked for a table at one, needed to wait some time, so off to the next for drinks and then to another for dinner. The could actually all be the same place. I'm trying to sort it with Goggle Maps at the moment, and I'm not entirely sure. Regardless to say, we're in France, on the Atlantic coast, and the food is great. Last night we had seafood; I had cod and Kim lobster. When by the water, seafood always seems appropriate. It was delicious. I actually had zucchini in a way I never had before. They scored it in a diamond pattern and then cooked it scored side down, presumably on a hot pan in an oven. The scored side was well done but the rest still had some crunch to it. Nice balance of textures. After we decided to check out some French tv at our place and get some rest after a long day.

It has been very interesting to be in this resort town where we are two of the very few Americans. Most of the tourists here are French. There are very few English speakers, and my French as been put to the test. The pressure always helps language skills, and I've been happy to put them to the test. This town doesn't take itself too seriously either. This was a window display on our way in from the train station. All the animals are moving in the exhibit, you can hear a ukulele in your mind if you stare at it long enough.

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Day 3, Sunday

We're on the train headed towards the beach. I say towards because we missed our direct train to Arcachon. I forgot just how punctual trains in France are. We got there before it left, but the gates were locked and that was that. So we had fun with customer service getting our tickets changed. On our way now. We should get to our place at the beach by six. Right now we are racing through farmland south of Paris.

Sadly, Boulangerie Alexine was closed this morning. It's Sunday after all. We did follow our noses to Boris Lumé Café just around the corner from the hotel. We could smell it half a block away. They were bringing up fresh baked croissants. We got an almond one along with a matcha bun with a delicious filling to go along with our morning coffee. Again, just sitting in a seat outside the café with a coffee. Such a simple pleasure.

I thanked Kim again for picking this part of Paris to stay in. Montmartre is a distance from the biggest attractions of Paris, but the small town feel of this "village within the city" is a better trade for the touristy bustle closer to the Seine.

My first trip to Paris twenty years ago was odd, and my memories of it are somewhat marred by a bit of an emotional freakout. Paris is where I realized that I dropped myself on the other side of the planet, alone, without a guidebook, and apparently a poor grasp of the language. Bumbling my way through the town I managed to see Notre Dame but not the Louvre. I was constantly lost and surprised at my poor language skills after a year of study. I honestly wouldn't change any of it now. I left for Spain then with a stubborn determination to not admit that what I'd done was stupid. My grasp of Spanish proved to be much better than my French, and matured and flourished the rest of that trip. It's that same stubborn determination that I use now in races.

I still haven't seen the Louvre. I did worry that after a month in DC, I might be burned out on museums. The Rodin museum was a pleasant change with the sculputre gardens. As time flows differently in new surroundings, I feel I've been here a week instead of a couple of days. The regatta feels a month away. I'm looking forward to that competitive feeling again. Maybe I'll finally see the Louvre on the way back from the regatta. But first, a few days of relaxation at the beach.bises

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Day 2, Saturday

Saturday in Paris was amazing. If I had lingering trepedations from my previous visit to Paris, they have been assuaged. We took an Über to Musée du Rodin. This was such a great call by Kim. Well done, my friend! What a really amazing museum! We saw the Thinker quickly as we raced by the main building and several sculptures to get to the outdoor cafe. I finally got to order a café allongé, basically an americano, but I've been trying for a month to remember how to say this in French. My stomach was a mess from motion sickness after the car ride, but the Madelines we found at the café made that all better.
The museum has a lot of outside area. Rodin was mainly a sculptor in bronze, so large pieces that need space. There's some great work outside. The building is an eighteenth century hotel that he worked in quite a bit. Inside there are reliefs and preliminary pieces to several of his big sculptures outside. It's actually really cool to see the progression a idea takes through clay and towards bronze. I don't know this process at all, but you can understand at least some of it by seeing the red clay, then small bronze, then full size bronze pieces of the same work.

After Rodin, we grabbed some Lime bikes and headed towards Eiffel. Kim had never been on a Lime and there is nothing better for a tourist town than an electric bike. There were the familiar sounds of glee coming from the bike behind me. I didn't remember the large mall of grass in front of Eiffel. It reallly looks like DC. Tons of people milling about, playing games, and generally enjoying outdoor life. All underneath the shadow of Eiffel.
We were looking for a café on the Seine with a view of Eiffel, and walked a bit next to the river. We met up with Pat at a café next to the river cruise boats. I found a place called Girafe on the other side of the river and we walked that way passed the aquarium. This place had a huge patio with a great view. I had a fantastic Irish Coffee. I've been wanting to try a Croq Madame, Pat joined me and Kim got a Croq Misuer. The traditional ham and cheese toastie (Miseur) with an egg on top (Madame) did not disappoint. I only want to eat French food from now on. Kim suggested dessert and ordered a creme brulée. I've had this plenty of times in the states and never really liked it. I've been told by several people to try it again in France. So, fine. Let's do it.
Wow. This is completely different here. So light and airy and the sugar crust on top was perfect. Truly deliscious.

Pat took off back to join the others at their Airbnb. Kim and I headed back towards Montmartre to do some shopping. Back on bikes and back across town. Things were lovely until we got to the Arc de Triumph and its roundabout. There are no traffic rules here that one can understand. I'm not even sure how people walk to the arc itself. There are no crosswalks, hardly lines for lanes (but at least 3 or 4 in the roundabout), and there are, no kidding, twelve spokes of streets that intersect here. There were cars coming from all directions. People trying to get to or from the Arc itself are running across traffic. I have no idea how this makes any sense at all. We bailed onto a side street with the bikes pretty quickly.

We made our way back to the red light section of Montmartre; the main drag where Moulin Rouge is located. Traffic was still terrifying, and we dropped the bikes to grab a cocktail. Nerves rested, we went off to do some shopping. I saw several dress and suit shops on my walk to the hotel from the metro Friday morning but was unable to locate these again today. Not that I wanted to buy a fancy dress, but these were the awesome Paris windows that you imagine perusing. But we made our way back through the neighborhood, found some souvenirs, and then stumbled into Cinema Machine, a second-hand store where I scored a couple cute blouses. We stopped for one last cocktail at Au Rendez-Voud de Montmartre before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and Mouline Rouge!

After a quick nap, we headed back out for dinner. Kim had found La Cave Gourmande. This was obviously a locals' place, and was everything I want in a Paris restaurant: good drinks, cute patio, fun waitress excited to speak English, great food, and everyone else there was speaking French. Kim had an onion soup that looked fantastic and we shared a cheese plate, some delicious seared duck, and eggplant spread. This was also one of the best priced restaurants we've found, and I was happy to get an Aperol Spritz for 7€. We suddenly noticed the time and jumped up to take the walk back down the hill for Moulin Rouge.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this show. It was an interesting mix of French entertainment. Part cabaret, part circus, dancing, music, and grand costumes. This is obviously where the Vegas show was born. This show was fantastic. Thank you, Kim, for putting this on the list. Great call!
There were amazing costumes and beautiful women dancing about. The men were overdressed for a cabaret show in our opinion, but there were some amazing performances of strength. Something else really impressive was the fact that not one person in the theater picked up their phone the entire time. Hadn't seen that in a very long time. If you're coming to Paris, this is absolutely worth it.

Photo from Paris City Vision

After the show we went looking for live music. We found one bar in Montmartre where a few people were playing covers and the locals were dancing. We met an Irish woman who rowed coastal fours. Always nice to meet other rowers. When the band stopped, we headed back towards the hotel and found a gelato shop open and packed. We each got a chocolate dipped cone and they make the gelato flower shaped in the cone when they hand it to you. This was beautifully done.
Today we head for Arcachon for a couple days at the beach. I'm going to head back to Boulangerie Alexine for breakfast first though. À bientôt!

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Day 1, Friday

Paris

It's 9am and I just woke up. It's the latest I've slept in years. I didn't sleep on the plane much. Normally I do, but I had the realization that sleeping on a plane in a seat is like sleeping on a Mimbari bed. If you don't know what I'm talking about, stop reading and go binge watch Babylon 5. Otherwise the flight was fine. I learned at the airport that I was not on the same flight as Kim, Pat, and Sarah. So I got to do a little solo travel upon arrival. I took the train in and the metro to our hotel.

I went back to the hotel and met up with Kim. I told her about a bar I saw at the top of the hill. So off we went to Autour du Moulin. A couple of regulars are inside with the bartender. Kim comments that this area of Paris is really cool because people actually live here.
There's a whole top shelf of bottles with labels hand-written in Sharpie on them. They all have fruits in the bottle and the bartender explaind that they are meant to do shots. OK! Let's have a shot. Kim asked for something off the menu but the kitchen doesn't open for a couple hours yet. We get a shot glass of nuts and golden raisins. These are the best raisins I've ever had. It's the little things.
We started walking again but I'm trying to find a restaurant to make plans with Pat and Sarah, so we ended up stopping again for a drink, as you do. La Bonne Franquette sits on a weird curve in a road that serves as a bit of an open square. While we're sitting at a table outside, a man in full mime garb stops and breaks out an accordion. There's a couple dancing the tango in the street. It's funny to watch the cars (and buses) come through this intersection. The locals drive straight through. You can spot the tourist drivers as they stop and wonder what's happening. We have some wine and charcutterie watching the world go by.

We are working our way towards the Sacre Cœur, the famous basilica in Montmartre. This place is huge. We arrived just in time for the bells at 6pm. Not sure if 6pm is a special time, but the bells went on and on for a while. Lots of beautiful, stained glass windows inside. This church is fairly modern, completed in 1914, so definitely still in use. Lots of worshipers inside, very beautiful. And it sits well up on a hill with multiple sets of steps cascading down from in front of it. Down the steps there's a restaurant and a carousel. We stop for a drink of course at Le Studio Café with a beautiful view of the basilica up the hill. After we decide to take a ride on the carousel. It's just as awesome as you remember.

We finally make our way south to meet up with Pat and Sarah for dinner at Bistrot Richelieu. I had escargots and tartar and I'm feeling very French.

We're off to the Rodin Museum in a few. I need some coffee. Will have more tomorrow. À demain

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Day 0, Thursday

Atlanta

I had a blast at Masters Nats. The racing was great. Medaled in every event. I also really felt part of the team in a way I never have before. Staying in the house with ten other women really helped build the comaradarie. It was boiling hot (even for me), and I never made it to the beach that was twenty minutes away. But what an amazing event. I joined the team in January. There was a beautiful moment after our first race and a gold medal. Chris Zurawski put the medal on my neck and said, "Welcome to the team." I nearly cried. Thanks, Chris, for being sappy with me.

I also got to be part of Capital's team, at least the sculling team. It was great to see that group again. There was a great give and take as Atlanta, Texas, and Capital were constantly in the top three spots in most of the races. That week was everything I love about sport. And I was exhausted when I got home.

Tonight we leave for Worlds. There's only eight of us from the women's team and four from the men's. This year it's in Libourne, France, near Bordeaux. Je suis excité comme un pouce. "I'm as excited as a flea." Apparently a flea is a term of endearment in French. Looking forward to adventures and the last races of sprint season. I'll keep you posted.