Paris.

Following a wonderful Thanksgiving with my girlfriend's family in Portland, we hopped on an early flight to Paris. (I never get over how long the flight is from the West Coast of the USA to Western Europe. It beats crossing the Atlantic by boat, but twelve to fourteen hours in a plane isn't my idea of fun.) We arrived in Paris at 6:45 AM, very tired. Our hotel allowed early check-in, which gave us a chance to clean up and rest before seeing any of the city. We're lucky to be staying right on The Champs - Elysees, not far from the Arc de Triomphe.

Melissa (my girlfriend) is going to be working during the week, but our stay will give us two full weekends of sightseeing together, in addition to every evening. I'll strike out on my own during the weekdays to see sights that she has already seen, since she lived in Paris for a time several years ago.

As has been my experience with other International travel, the guides and shows tend to exaggerate or outright lie about certain aspects of the culture. For example, people in France are not rude. In fact, they are extremely accommodating when your French is less than perfect. The city of Paris is also unbelievably clean and quiet. Compared to other major cities I've visited throughout the world, Paris is easily one of the nicest.

I've made a collection of photos from our Paris, Day One available.

I'll be missing the Seattle Half Marathon because of this unexpected trip, so I'm going to see if I can't get some good running in while I'm in Paris (to ease a little bit of the runner's guilt). It'll be fun to see how my Garmin Forerunner 305 works for capturing Paris routes.