The Week #228

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  • 🇫🇷 I took the chunnel to Paris. I've was gonna say I had never ridden a train that crossed borders before, but that's false. I once rode Amtrak from Everett, Washington to Vancouver and back. Besides the quality and speed differences (no match with the Eurostar), you go through both passport controls back-to-back and customs before boarding, so when you get off in Paris you just go.

    First impression of Paris: the buildings are mostly quite similar (6 story) and the store fronts are very cute (the flowers!).

    When walking from my station to my hotel they were also cleaning the streets. Was very good to see the entire operation: leaf blower, street scrubber, and pressure washer all fully electric. It's still loud, but not nearly as loud and zero local pollution.
    Cozy breakfast nook
  • 🏃 I don't have much time to actually be a tourist in Paris, so I decided to see cities my new favorite way: long slow runs. I ran for about an hour from my hotel around to Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, and the Louvre. One day I will go inside the Louvre and enjoy its art, but that day is not today.
  • 🍽️ I also learned in detail the phrase why "you don't want to see how the sausage is made" is the way it is. I got it in theory. But it never crossed my mind that a sausage could be gamey and like...still having bits come out when served. I couldn't finish it. Not enough to make me a vegi forever, but I think my new strategy when traveling might be to order vegetarian until you get the lay of the land. The smell is seared into my nose.

    Besides that one sausage the food has been incredible. I've been absolutely ruined on bread, butter, and cheese. It's all so good here. The best one was served to me at a friend's flat...it's butter, but it has like pockets of intense salt, almost like instead pop-rocks. I'm ruined. Going to need a specific category in my monthly budget labeled butter and cheese when I get back.
    Croissant and Pan aux chocolat
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