last night in paris, time to head home!

last night my friends and i headed back to le palais des congres/hotel concorde la fayatte complex for the second night in a row. saturday night we went to a cocktail party at le palais de congres (which is basically a convention center). friday night we went there for dinner, at the restaurant la fayette in the hotel concorde. friday turned into a late night for me - not back at the hotel until after midnight - and i slept late saturday. last night i skipped dinner after the cocktail party, and went for a for a run instead.

after sightseeing in montmartre on saturday, i got back to the hotel and didn't have the chance to get in any miles before it was time to head over to the party. so i didn't want the day to slip by without getting in some miles. on the drive back to the hotel, we passed the eiffel tower as it was in its hourly "flashing lights" phase. that inspired me to retrace my running route from the first night run. more importantly, however, i wanted to expunge the smoked-choked memory of my last run.

since i'd already done this route, and it was late - didn't get out the hotel door until 9:40 - i ran at an 8 minute pace. "this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around!" were the "talking heads" lyrics that motivated me to run it fast. it was a great run (and even the expected cigarette smoke pollutdc base of the eiffel tower didn't detract)!
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here is a photo from the cocktail party:


mark, yvette, and me.
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here is a photo from dinner friday night:


group portrait.
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right now, sunday morning, going to get in a few miles before it's time to check out and head over to the airport. next stop, hopefully, good old jfk in new york city!