Hey,
I’m sorry to say this, but I didn’t run in France on my mega Europe trip. I had a hell of a day Wednesday getting ready, then had an overnight flight with no sleep, our travel agent forgot to tell the airline about my diet so I couldn’t eat the dinner or breakfast….then I arrived in Paris, hopped on a bus, hopped on a train, arrived in Chartres (I hope you like run on sentences), couldn’t get a cab so I hiked uphill with a month’s worth of luggage until I finally ended up at my hotel. First thing I did? Plopped down on my bed and slept for four hours. I woke up just in time to meet my dad, Doug and our clients from France, Poland and England for dinner.
Just when you thought I was taking this somewhere whiney and negative, I’ll change it up on you. We had a lovely dinner. I have no idea what it was, but it was lovely. I had little cauliflowers and asparagus the size of mosquitoes (weird reference, I know) perfectly arranged in a shell with mini edible flowers. Amazing steak of mystery fish. Home made lemon sorbet with warm candied strawberries. Too much wine. Oh France….I love you and your miniature mystery food.
After dinner, Dad, Doug and I decided to have some beers out on the patio and what do you know, we meet a Belgian man who works for the company we were there to see, so we stayed up drinking and chatting with him a little while longer. Yup, there was no way I was running after that.
I was up at 6 am and ready in an hour to eat breakfast (fresh home made bread, fresh fruit mmmm) and off to Luce to work for the day. We left straight from the office to drop Doug off at the airport and just made it to Beauvais in time to eat a bag of chips for dinner and catch our flight to Edinburgh (this airport didn’t have toilet seats in the women’s washroom and the toilet paper was pink, which of course darkens when wet. Floors were wet, toilet paper all over the floor – it looked like an abortion clinic gone wrong. Not pleasant. I recommend avoiding Beauvais airport if you can). So at 8:50 PM, there I was off to Edinburgh, Scotland, not a moment to spare for a run in France. I guess I could have lied and posted pictures from my run on the Seine in April but…no that would be lame.
Moving on…My dad and I arrived in St. Andrews late Friday night. Some of you know that my brother Malcolm, his wife Naomi and their son, Calum live in St. Andrews. What most of you don’t know is they live in a castle. They are the wardens for St. Salvador’s Hall, the University residence Prince William and Kate Middleton met at. Lah dee dah. The students don’t move back for two weeks so they have the whole residence to themselves (kind of reminds me of The Shining). Google it, it’s awesome! This will be the highlight of my whole trip. I can eat fancy room service breakfast by the mountains in Phoenix, or relax on a patio of the nicest hotel in picturesque Chartres with a pint of 1664, but nothing feels as wonderful as being greeted by a few of your own in one of these places. Especially when I only see them twice a year.
Calum was baby last time I saw him. Now, he’s a little boy. He talks to me, controls the television and CD player and makes fart noises on his dad’s belly. I taught him to do them on his arm and I expect he will have it mastered when I see him again next week. He’s two years old.
I pretty much forgot this blog was about running around the world. On Saturday morning, I ran around St. Andrews. It is a small town, so literally, I ran around it. I imagine I did about 6 KM. I hadn’t run since I was in Phoenix so I thought it would be rough, but it was really smooth actually. There is so much to take in when you’re in a place like St. Andrews, or any town on a coast. Running alongside the North Sea gives this haunting feeling that throws you 1000 years back in time and lets your imagination run with scenes of medieval warfare, famine, celebration and romance (eff the poetics we all know I just reenacted scenes from Braveheart in my head). I started with my iPod and was happiest when I took the headphones out. With all the senses working to the limit, I paid little attention to the cramps in my gut and just kept running. I had to see, hear, smell and imagine what was around every corner. Malcolm told me this is where Sean Connery goes running. No, this is where Jerk goes running!
The weather is a funny thing. It started out hot and sunny. Five minutes later, clouds rolled over the town and misted me. Then it was sunny again. Then a strong wind gusted in and it started pouring rain. Then it was sunny again. You get it – Oh, it's good Scottish weather, madam. The rain is falling straight down. Well, slightly to the side like.
I posted some photos below from the run in St. Andrews, as well as my panoramic video of the view from the coast.
I’m writing this blog entry from the airport in Aberdeen. It’s been really tough so far to find time for writing, let alone showering. Free WiFi connections are unheard of, too. I will hopefully get this posted when I’m in my hotel in Stavanger. I’ll just have to suck it up and pay for WiFi when I’m there.
As for stories about Calum, Malcolm and Naomi – there will be plenty more to come, as I get to spend a whole week with them when I’m done in Italy!!! I’ve never been so excited to babysit and learn to change diapers in my life. Who knew?
P.S. – Malcolm showed me Prince William's room at the hall. The bathrooms are supposed to be shared here, but William had one built into his dorm that also acts as a bomb proof panic room. He also had bulletproof windows installed and the surrounding dorms were for his bodyguards, posing as students. I asked Malcolm to take a huge dump in William’s toilet for me.
Scurrying golfers...
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