Paris - in the springtime

Yesterday I watched the Paris Marathon. I watched it, on and off, for about two hours and still they were passing - over 41,000 of them!

Just some of the 41,000.  Note the Eifell tower between the lampost and the tees!

I watched near the 27km mark, before wandering along the Champs-Élysées, traffic free for some of the day. There were young (ish) runners, older runners, and some that looked as if they could only be labelled as old! They wore a variety of fluro colored shirts and some wore trendy bottoms - others just daggy shorts and even a few with no shirts. Some ran in jeans or track pants. I don't know how they managed it as I was feeling warm, and I was standing still!

Along some of the Champs-Élysées.

There were all shades of colored hair - curly, straight, long and short, many grey haired and a lot with no hair! Some were skinny, others carried a bit of weight. There were those that stopped every so often and walked to give themselves a breather.

The crowds were very supportive, cheering and applauding as runners passed, some had musical instruments, with one group of fans banging on drums for hours. A young lass had a megaphone to cheer all and sundry. Somehow in this tremendous crowd of supporters individuals managed to spot their special runner amongst the thousands and ran alongside for a few hundred meters.   I saw one young bloke roller skating next to his lady for a several hundred meters.

The fire brigade cheered and held hoses, spraying jets of water across the race to cool down the runners. The young guys took it in turns holding the hoses - it's hard work holding a heavy fire hose steady for so many hours.  

The fire brigade in the background were loudly cheering.

At one point I thought that I might have to practice my first aid at the very least, or even CPR!   A man who was really obviously struggling stumbled a few meters before reaching me. He continued stumbling, grinding to a halt in front of me, leaning towards me, about to fall.  I held out my arms ready to catch him, though I think he would have brought both of us down if he had done so, as he was a big bloke and at least six inches taller than me.  Somehow he found the strength to stay upright and continued to shuffle along the road. I hope he made ​​it safely - he was actually in the three and half hour estimated finishers (runners start according to the time they think they will finish).

Some hours later, after I had eaten lunch and done some sightseeing, I could still see stragglers running along the banks of the Seine. A motley lot of musicians struck up each time one of these weary runners passed, cheering them on their way.

This was an event I was fortunate to witness in the bright spring sunshine, as Paris wore a dress of pale green, with leaves on the trees starting to shoot. A multitude of colored jewels in the form of red and pink tulips, yellow daffodils, hyacinth and pink and blue's decorated her feet.  Indeed a lovely day.

I still have not got around to telling you how I got here. That will have to wait for the next post. I have tried to make my words tell the pictures I am still unable to show you.