Le semi-marathon de Paris

We went to Paris over the weekend, but it wasn't the typical tourist trip. Jacob ran the Paris half-marathon!! (I'm super-proud of him!) Above are the before and after photos. The race started and ended at the Chateau de Vincennes (see photo below), and Jacob was able to see lots of Paris from the race. Also participating in the race were Jacob's boss Irena and his coworker Marcia (both of whom we've traveled with before--both on this trip, and Irena also on this one).Then after the race we did do touristy stuff. We visited the Centre Pompidou, Paris's big modern art museum. It was really amazing, and the views of the city from the museum were part of the cool experience.We made more than one trip over to the crepe district, and we ate some incredible pastries and breads. One item in particular is now in the top 2 most amazing things I've ever eaten (see this post for the other). The macaron framboise was so delicious we went back for a second one we ate on the train on the way home Monday night (left). It reminded me of something we ate in 2009 at Buckingham Palace with my grandparents (photo on this post). But this one was...well, possibly the best thing I've ever eaten! [And hopefully you're familiar with macarons, not to be confused with macaroons. See this article if you're not sure you know macarons--you poor thing!]
Gavin was such a trooper the whole time. Don't be fooled by Jacob's shorts and short sleeves at the race--it was COLD. And Gavin wasn't fond of his warm attire. He also wasn't fond of stopping, whether to ride the metro or place an order at the boulangerie--he wanted to be going nonstop. But he did such a great job and was so alert and interested in looking at everything --when he wasn't sleeping.