I'm in Paris!

Hey guys, so I made it to Paris and things are starting to feel really, really real.  I'm also so in love with this city already that I have nonstop butterflies and goosebumps just walking up and down the streets!

Before I get there, let me just quickly finish up my time in Nice with a few photos.  I worked on Friday, transferred hotels, and then checked out my new neighborhood a bit, stopped for a glass of wine on the beach as the sun set and then went out for a Nicoise dinner of a beef ravioli type thing.  Nice is actually pretty close to Italy so there were definitely lots of Italian influences throughout the culture and city.  I really loved the dinner I had, as well as the glass of wine I had before :)

On Saturday I did my final "long" run of 8-miles in the morning and then showered, relaxed a bit, and then proceeded to do some more wandering and eating.  I found the most delicious gelato and it totally made my whole trip there!  I have become a bit of a gelato snob since I studied abroad and the gelato I had was so, so good.  I tried three flavors... salted caramel, speculous, and macaroon. YUM!

I went to bed early on Saturday night because I knew I was going to have an early, early morning on Sunday.  My flight to Paris was at 7:00 a.m. so I needed to leave my hotel at 5:00 a.m., plus, it is daylight savings time in Europe so we lost an hour of sleep on Saturday night!  Up until now, I have been 5 hours ahead on Central Europe time and now I am 6 hours ahead.  I was pretty much half dead when I woke up on Sunday morning to get my flight.

However, once I arrived in Paris, I guess I will just have to use the words of my friend Ally and say, "This city energizes me!"  I am lucky enough to have a friend who has been living in Paris since around November and she was returning Sunday morning after a visit back to the States.  We arrived right at the same time (from different airports) at her apartment and then spent the day together before I came back to check in to my AirBnB rental apartment in the early evening.

We went to the Notre Dame cathedral, walked by the Louvre, ate a "macaroon snack" before a delicious Thai food lunch, more macaroons, and some delicious thick hot chocolate that tasted like melted Hershey's kisses.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, the sun was shining, flowers were blooming, and I just had goosebumps all over as I actually absorbed the "springtime in Paris" weather that I had been thinking of for MONTHS.

Macaroon snack!

Before I signed up for this marathon, I never had an overwhelming urge to visit Paris and now that I am here, I have NO IDEA why I wasn't dieing to come!  I absolutely, positively love this city.  It is enchanting and beautiful and the whole city smells like fresh baked bread and sugar.  All of the pastry shops are gorgeous.  All of the retail stores are filled with beautiful clothing.  The architecture is gorgeous and has the wonderful charm of many European cities where you turn a corner and see a monument or plaza or something historic and insanely cool.

I am by no means a history buff so the fact that there are many things that I have actually heard of that are in Paris, is pretty cool.  I mean, the Eiffel Tower is probably the most notable European monument I would say?  Ever since I was a little kid, my friends and I used to pick each other up in the pool and pretend to be the Eiffel Tower.  Everyone knows it!  When I first saw it, I literally think I lost my breathe a little bit.  I don't mean to be dramatic but it's true!

And later in the evening when I was walking around my neighborhood, I turned around at one point and saw the Eiffel Tower perfectly centered in the middle of the street I was walking down with a wonderful view -- I audibly gasped.  I felt like it kept getting better too.  When the sun went down the Eiffel Tower lit up.  And then it started sparkling!  It is just so amazing.

I spent today as a "work day" and was able to visit my company's offices here, but otherwise spent the day at my laptop.

And literally any moment now Jess is going to arrive and we are going to go for a run so I am BEYOND excited about that.

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Jess texted me that she was here before I could post this :)  We just did our 3 mile run around the Eiffel Tower (!!!!!) and are now feasting.

I can't believe this week is finally here.