Two days, and the plan was to fill them completely. Day one was the Luxembourg Gardens and a walking tour, and the discovery that the thing to do in a Paris park is exactly what everyone around you is doing, which is sitting down. Fifteen thousand steps by the afternoon. A twelve-hour first day is also the fastest cure for jet lag ever devised.
Dinner came from a recommendation rather than a search, which is how both dinners were chosen. It turned out to be vegetarian. I had wanted a steak. It was very good anyway.
Day two was Paris Marathon Sunday, and the route ran directly past the hotel – close enough to watch the leaders from the room. I went out for about nine kilometres alongside it, running against the direction of the race, which was not my smartest decision.
Then the Louvre with my mother, where I was late because I had stopped to eat. Standing in front of the Mona Lisa, what I mainly thought about was the frame, and how anybody hangs something that heavy on a wall.
Thirty thousand steps by the end of it.