We worked
out in the morning. I did 4 rounds of ~430m run and 35 squats. Took
10:18. The rest of the day we took it pretty easy. We finished up a few
really last minute things, and walked around downtown Red Bank. There
were lots of fancy stores there, but we mostly just looked at the store
fronts. We also checked out the Dogma church (from the outside only).
Then we had lunch with Sam and Shannon, and packed.
Our travels
began a bit before 5pm, when Sam and Shannon drove us to the train
station. We caught the 5pm train at about 5:10, and settled in for the
hour to Newark. The train was pretty full, which I guess brings out the
conflict in people. There was a woman whose kid cried a bit on occasion
(and got slapped for it, occasionally). At one point a crotchety old man
yelled for her to “shut the kid up.” Then somebody started arguing with
the old man about it, and in the end everything was unhappier for it.
At the
airport we stood in line a lot. First we stood in the pre-line to the
actual checkin line. Then we stood in the checkin line. Then the
passport check security line. Then the actual security
take-of-your-shoes-line. Then another security line where they only
checked our bags. Then the line to board the plane. Then the plane had
to stand in line to take off. We ended up taking off about 50 minutes
late, but the pilots must’ve put the hammer down because we landed right
on schedule. We flew Air India, which was more of a cultural experience
than I thought it would be. All the signs were in Farsi(?) as well as in
English. There was Indian music on the TV. We had Indian food for
dinner, which was pretty tasty. Might be the best airplane food I’ve
had.
Getting off
and into Paris was pretty painless. The rail and metro system is well
signposted, and most people who we need to buy things from speak
English. We found our hostel (Hotel le Montclair) pretty easily. After
ditching our bags we wandered around the neighborhood for a while. We
got a tasty sandwich at a bakery (good bread) and ate it in a park.
Bakeries, stores that sell fruit, and stores that sell other miscellanea
are everywhere. It’s a nice change from just having the occasional
supermarket that you see in most US cities.
