I arrived several hours earlier than my friends travelling with me. I took this free time to check-in at the hotel and start wander around a little bit, one of my favorite travelling activities. The wander started with heading toward the Eiffel Tower and grabbing the above picture. After that, I’m less certain of my exact direction, but I took a good 3 hours and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the city on foot. French is a difficult language, in my opinion, as a native American-English speaker. The accent and emphasis is like learning a new sport, you feel uncomfortable and exercise new muscles. Travelling alone in Belgium, this certainly challenged me. Travelling with a few Canadians in Paris made life a little easier. I enjoyed the challenge of doing my best with what I knew. I think making a strong effort is the only way to visit somewhere, even if you’re starting from 0.
The next day, we took a trek out to Versailles to view the famous palace glorified by Louis XIV of France.
The palace was truly impressive, the most magnificent royal residence I have seen in Europe so far. After spending most of the day in Versailles, we trekked back into the city toward Notre Dame and the Pompidou. A few bottles of wine and a lot of bread with a bit of cheese later, the fourth member of our party finally made it in and we met up for dinner.
On Day 3, we slept in a bit, but headed for the Louvre, one of the largest museums in the world, in the morning. The most famous masterpiece contained in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa. The museum is far too large to convince yourself to ‘finish’ in one day. In an attempt to avoid museum fatigue, we headed up the Champs d’Elysees toward the Arc d’Triomphe for some great views of the city.
The busy day continued when we went east to pick up my race pack. After that excursion we took the Metro to Montmartre to the Sacre-Coeur, a large church (see below). Many people come at night with a bottle of wine or other booze and a baguette to enjoy on the steps. A fun and entertaining atmosphere.
My final day in Paris was spent running 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 31 minutes and visiting the catacombs. The race was a lot of fun and a personal best. The catacombs contain millions of skeletons and really creeped me out. After that interesting experience, I grabbed my bag from the hotel and got on the Eurostar back to London.
Overall, a really great trip, I can’t wait to return.
Minnesota and Wisconsin represent the mecca of curling in the United States, with thousands of people playing in everything from mixed-doubles leagues to elite-level bonspiels. The St. Paul Curling Club, with more than 1,200 members, is the largest club in the country.
Of course, I’m certain our similar climate and border with Canada are no coincidence.
Curling’s popularity in Canada is second only to hockey; tournaments are frequently televised, top-notch skips are big stars, and it’s estimated that a million of the sport’s 1.1 million participants live in this country.
Besides having a slight affinity with respect to accents and a love and long history of hockey, it appears that we share a strange and mostly unpopular sport (as far as the U.S. is concerned). I have never curled before, but I do remember that Northwestern had a team for graduate students. An interesting phenomenon that just hasn’t really spread south of Canada or out of Europe.
So far, the men’s curling team has not won a single match to my knowledge. Maybe if we have an incredibly successful team that could turn the sport around in America.
Perhaps most impressive is that America is winning medals in traditional sports often dominated by Europeans, such as alpine skiing, figure skating and long-course speedskating. Noting that the number of Winter Olympics events has risen to 86 from 46 in Calgary, Olympic historian David Wallechinsky said, “We’re expected to do well in new events like freestyle skiing and snowboarding. But this week is not just a new-event phenomenon for the U.S.”
Not too jinx things, since there are still a lot of medals yet to be one, but I think we can all be proud of the athletes representing America in this year’s Winter Olympics. Let’s hope the leadership in both overall medals and gold medals continues this week!
Share This ]]>There is no sound, but take a minute and watch!
Share This ]]>Being in the UK, I was able to enjoy this evening match (Melbourne time) in the morning. The match was definitely a bit of a nail biter at the end, but I was happy to see Federer come out with his 16th grand slam victory. Playing a tiebreak to 13-11 is tough, but both players looked strong throughout it. I’m sure we have more to see in the future from Andy Murray. At the end, Federer looked genuinely elated to win this match.
Every season ends at some point though. Of course, the ultimate way to end it in the NFL is with a Super Bowl victory, something I am confident that the Saints will now pull off. This year is one for the NFC.
Vikings – it was a good run, Favre led us through some tough games and gave us consistency, but in the end the Saints took it. Let’s come back strong next season – I know Minnesota loved it.
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Wow it feels good to be back out on the River Flats playing ultimate. I had a great time with Dan yesterday getting used to tossing a disc again. It felt good and I think everything came back pretty quickly.
If you are reading this and you are interested in playing a few pick-up games, leave a comment. (Yes Dan, I know you want to).
Ultimate really is a great sport. It is so cheap, a $20 (or so) frisbee and you just need a friend to start playing. You get to control the pace of the game. You can go toss it for a while in a big circle and move very little. You can play with two people and chase down a bunch of long throws. Or if you want, you can play an all out competitive game. It takes just enough skill where practicing is worthwhile. A sport loses a certain element when no practice or skill is required. I think that element is a measure of competitiveness and fitness.
The point is: Let’s play soon!!!
Share This ]]>Why isn’t this Rule #1? Well, if you go beyond your limit, you will be in a lot better shape if you are hydrated.
This sort of rule applies to all aspects of life. I think that it is especially important in sports to be very self-aware. You need to know what point you’re at. Whether you need to train harder, step it up for a final kick at the end of the race, or back down to conserve energy, knowing your limit is key.
Share This ]]>This will be the Clif’s Notes version of the post that is lost on the interwebs.
Yesterday reminded me of a critical lesson that I took the chance to forget over the winter. Hydration is key to training and physical activity in general. MN summers provide plenty of scorchers like yesterday in the high 80’s. Since summer is finally upon us and I’m finally back in the TC, it is time to get outside and do all the amazing things summer lets you do.
Prior to a race or big event it is best to stop training or train very very lightly for about a week. During this time period hydration is absolutely essential. It will increase comfort and performance on race day. This means drinking a lot of water and electrolytely beverages (like gatorade). Staying hydrated is equally important for training and working out. Sometimes it is easy to forget about.
On the other hand, it is something incredibly easy to do everyday to ensure that you will be ready to go when you want to be. The important thing is to keep it mind, not to obsess over it.
This post is the first in a series preempting an exciting (albeit late starting) summer in MN.
Share This ]]>I was a little nervous in the last inning, but they did it! Picked up 3 runs with Casilla batting in the final run. 1-1, let’s get this season going. (Sadly the White Sox also won).
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