I had to work today. My heart wasn't in it but my to-do list was long. I spent all morning getting through about 80% of them, after that I would pack, work, shower, work, dry my hair, work. It was good that the morning was so prodcutive because the afternoon sure wasn't!
And yet...with all that time to prepare and pack it is BY FLUKE that I happened to look in my wallet by the door when my shoes were on and I was ready to go that I thought to have one last, unsuccessful look for my PADI card and found my driver's licence just sitting there. OOPS! I kinda need that! Cripes, if I had forgotten that, renting cars (which is the plan for nearly 2 weeks!) would have been niet mogelijk!!! Phew!
Met Sherrin at HS, met Andrew in Rotterdam. We hopped on to car 18 and Liam had a mini meltdown. It proved fortunate in the end since we initially just tried to stay out of people's way and find places to put our luggage. In the end we found the quiet and out of the way customs car. It was rather private - by design! Shaded doors and handcuff hooks on the wall suggest this isn't a place you want to HAVE to sit but it worked out well for us because the conductor let us stay and it was our own, very comfortable private car. Hurrah!
Andrew and I didn't have much time between arriving in Paris and the start of the Pari-Roulante start time of 10PM from Gare de Montparnasse. We managed to all cab it to the hotel, ditch our stuff, change and cab it over to the station.
We knew we were in the right place because we started to see more and more people with roller blades. It was so exciting to be a part of this. They have had crowds of up to 20000 people before. I'd say that the 12th of August, and the full moon no less, started with maybe 1000 and filtered down to 300ish by the end at 1AM.
I was initially quite cautious. I hadn't bladed in a while and wasn't used to the crowds. There were hot shots weaving in and out of the crowds and just givin'er! I had to watch the people around me and the pavement which varied in quality from recently resurfaced patches which were so nice to skate on, to pot-holes, to cobbles that had been paved but the pavement was coming off to no-getting-around-it, serious-foot-numbing cobbles. When we got off the first patch of cobbles it was funny as everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief!
It was amazing to tear through town like this. I originally though we might skate around Paris, but no...we skated through Paris. What a great way to be a tourist! We went past the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Notredame, and many other places I want to trace on a map. We had many little breaks through the night as they gathered the skaters prior to blocking off traffic at the more major intersections. The longer break took place at the Place de Vendome.
It was around that time, an hour and a half in=halfway, that Andrew and I were both feeling quite tired. It would have been okay to stop then. I'd loved every minute of it until then, despite the appearance of a few ambulances along the way...not surprising really! In any case, as we both pushed each other to keep going for one more break, we got to the point that the 3hour mark and 30km finish line were so close that we figured we might as well finish. And we did! Hurrah...now for celebration drinks!
Before drinks, though, I had planted the seed about a McDonald's caramel sundae. We were both fixated on that and terribly disappointed that they were closed at 1AM and we'd missed them by 15mins. So a beer for Andrew and a piña colada for me to toast our fabulously fun night had to suffice.
Andrew and I didn't have much time between arriving in Paris and the start of the Pari-Roulante start time of 10PM from Gare de Montparnasse. We managed to all cab it to the hotel, ditch our stuff, change and cab it over to the station.
We knew we were in the right place because we started to see more and more people with roller blades. It was so exciting to be a part of this. They have had crowds of up to 20000 people before. I'd say that the 12th of August, and the full moon no less, started with maybe 1000 and filtered down to 300ish by the end at 1AM.
I was initially quite cautious. I hadn't bladed in a while and wasn't used to the crowds. There were hot shots weaving in and out of the crowds and just givin'er! I had to watch the people around me and the pavement which varied in quality from recently resurfaced patches which were so nice to skate on, to pot-holes, to cobbles that had been paved but the pavement was coming off to no-getting-around-it, serious-foot-numbing cobbles. When we got off the first patch of cobbles it was funny as everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief!
It was amazing to tear through town like this. I originally though we might skate around Paris, but no...we skated through Paris. What a great way to be a tourist! We went past the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Notredame, and many other places I want to trace on a map. We had many little breaks through the night as they gathered the skaters prior to blocking off traffic at the more major intersections. The longer break took place at the Place de Vendome.
It was around that time, an hour and a half in=halfway, that Andrew and I were both feeling quite tired. It would have been okay to stop then. I'd loved every minute of it until then, despite the appearance of a few ambulances along the way...not surprising really! In any case, as we both pushed each other to keep going for one more break, we got to the point that the 3hour mark and 30km finish line were so close that we figured we might as well finish. And we did! Hurrah...now for celebration drinks!
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