Last Day in Paris....

Early that Monday morning, Jimmy caught a flight to the US for four days of business meetings followed by a weekend with his dad and sister in Florida. Veronica and Brett set off for a bit more sightseeing...

...and photography before heading their separate ways as Veronica had a train to catch back to Exeter while Brett was continuing his holiday by heading to Bordeaux. 

So I was alone when I headed to the Hangover Hash which started along the canal at 46bis Quai de la Loire. It was a much smaller group and luckily I managed to keep up with them and never got lost. Unfortunately, however, I did lose all of my photos since my phone died and wasn’t backed up. However, I managed to borrow some photos from Wiki Commons of the incredible park that we ran through: Parc des Buttes Chaumont. A former quarry and dump, it was turned into a park in 1867 by Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and first president of France). Apparently the original hills were dynamited to leave behind these jagged peaks.

Although we didn’t go up the Eiffel Tower, we crossed the 205-foot (63-meter) long suspension bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel. 

Of course, we had to head up to the top of the hill to visit the park’s most famous feature: Temple de la Sibylle, a miniature version of the famous Roman Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. 

Most surprising was to see a waterfall in Paris. Even though it was artificial, it was still pretty. We stopped for a beer break just outside the park and then had a second stop at a bakery for fresh croissants and coffee (or hot chocolate, in my case). Eventually we made it back to the start where we had a circle and a nice lunch with the leftovers from the day before. Afterwards a bunch of us went to a local microbrewery for a beer and then it was time for me to round up my luggage (which I had already moved close to Gare du Nord) and catch my train home. What a fantastic weekend!

Considering we had briefly debated about not going because of COVID-19, we were all happy to have had a great time while staying safe from the virus. When we said goodbye that Monday morning, we had no idea who quickly we’d all be together again. 
 

Hashing Across Paris...

It was so fun to run through the streets of Paris, except for when Opee and I managed to lose the pack in the Jardin des Plantes (Garden of Plants), which led to us missing the gladiator fight at the Arenes de Lutece (Arenas of Lutece). 

Luckily we managed to stay on trail the rest of the time. Here is the voluptuous Paris H3 RA checking out a group of folks doing cosplay in another park. 

I have no idea which building this is, but it was great that someone managed to capture some group shots on trail. Humorously, this is where many hashers, including Opee, went up to strangers and asked them: “Where is Brian?” If the person happened to be a local instead of a tourist, they often laughed and answered: “In the kitchen.” It turned out that was a line from a primary school textbook for learning English and was later used in a popular French comedian’s act.

The beer break was on the bank of the Seine.

We all chugged our beers and got ready to flee when we were visited by the police as we likely needed a permit to gather there. Luckily they just wanted to remind us not to swim in the quickly moving swollen river.

We covered a lot of ground as we ran across the city. By the time we got to the Louvre, it had begun to rain.

Luckily it stopped so we could pose for another group shot. 

The hash ended at a park near the Eiffel Tower with a fun circle followed by an incredible lunch buffet. Then we were surprised to learn that we were going on a bus tour of the city. We couldn’t see much since the windows were mostly steamed up, but it was fun partying with hashers anyways. That night we attempted to eat dinner near our hotel, but it was nearly impossible to find any vegan food. We finally found a pizza place, but before we could place our order, a foul chemical smell scared us away. So we settled on ordering pizza to be delivered to our hotel room. 
 

Red Dress Hash...

It was cute that Brett was so excited about shopping for his first Red Dress Hash that he didn’t mind Veronica sending me photos from the dressing room. 

Our first stop was the market across the street from our hotel.

After some confusion why a man was looking for a dress, Jimmy and I found matching velvet princess dresses which we hope to wear to a future hash weekend. 

We definitely looked out of place at the market.

The hash started along the Seine River just down the street from the Austerlitz train station. 

It was great to see Moist Incest confidently wearing his new used dress (just ignore his tacky black leggings). 

We were very proud hash parents knowing that our hash horror and her boyfriend would be running around the streets of Paris in red dresses with us. 

Here’s the entire fashionable group at the start. 

Opee was sad to have to give up his lovely Eiffel Tower dildo, but it was someone else’s turn to run with it.

 

Stripes on the Seine...

The party and three-course dinner that evening was held at Le Marcounet, a private barge permanently moored on the Seine River near Notre Dame. 

The theme was stripes, so Jimmy and I dared to wear the stars and stripes. 

After intense rains, the river was very high and the organizers were worried that we might not even be able to get to the barge. Luckily that wasn’t a problem. 

As you can see, the government wasn’t urging social distancing yet.  

Black and white stripes were definitely the most popular.

After a nice dinner with lots of veggie options, Veronica and Brett were thrilled to be able to dance to a live band. 

Jimmy couldn’t resist playing some air guitar. 

Afterwards, Jimmy and I wandered Paris on our own, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of his new iPhone 11 courtesy of a crafty pickpocket. Strangely enough, that wasn’t our only encounter with criminals that weekend. Someone also tried to get into Brett’s backpack, but luckily he felt a tug and stopped that thief. And Jimmy and I were stopped by a car full of guys claiming to be police officers asking to see inside our bags. We were mighty suspicious, so kept plenty of distance when we unzipped our day packs. They clearly didn’t see anything that interested them, so they left. 

Paris H3 1000th Hash...

After a sushi lunch, we walked to Vicennes Forest for the start of the Paris H3 1000th Celebration Hash, the one hash event that was actually conveniently located near our hotel. 

The weather was nice for early March with clear skies.

This was Brett’s first non-family friendly hash as the Exeter Hash doesn’t swear or sing songs, so he didn’t really know what to expect. 

For this special run, the RA awarded one lucky hasher the dubious honor of wearing a hot pink Eiffel Tower dildo during trail. 

Any need to even guess who won that honor?

And he clearly wore it proudly. 

While we all knew that COVID-19 was starting to raise its ugly head in Europe, we still all felt comfortable in a large group and had no way of knowing that this would be the last large European hash weekend through at least the fall and possibly for the rest of 2020. 

The trail was entirely in the giant park and was very scenic. Here are Just Brett and Comes Too Soon coming into the beer break. Little did he know that his girlfriend’s mother was about to change his life.

I had already talked to the RA to suggest that we name Just Brett as this was his first adult hash and he was shacked up with his girlfriend’s parents. 

However, when I got up to say a few words about Brett, I fumbled my words and made a major mistake. Instead of mentioning moisture since he worked as a climate scientist, I said moist. When I said he was shacking up with us and mentioned incest, his fate was sealed. 

Brett took it all in stride as he was covered in flour and drenched in beer and forever more to be known as Moist Incest. Not one of my better namings, but at least there’s a good story to go with it. 

He was an excellent sport through the whole thing and even got a headband from a hasher who took pity on him. Lucky for him, Veronica was willing to help him clear the flour out of his curls.