Back in the US of A

I don't mind traveling for work, I really don't, but I guess I don't love it either. I spent the week in Paris, which to some would be an absolute dream. It was just ok for me. I've been to Paris 3 or 4 times before (all for work). I find it to be a dirty city, yeah parts of it are quaint and great desserts. Why don't people pick up their dog poop! Incredible! It was smeared all over the place - really not cool Parisians! I should say that when I travel for work it usually means long days (and nights) with customers, I rarely get even a few minutes to myself.

When I travel for work I try not to make a big deal out of being a vegetarian, and for the most part its pretty easy to find stuff to eat. There are places I've been where its a challenge - Houston and Atlanta are two places I can think of in the US. I am never one to push my ideals on someone else, I really don't care if you eat meat or not, I don't even want my vegetarianism to make you think about where we are going to eat. Its a choice I make only for myself, I hate it when it becomes an issue.

This is probably going to sound elitist or whatever, but I do think it says something about a city if the restaurants are veggie friendly. There's a distinction between a place that will create a veggie plate for you (i.e. removing the meat from a regular dish) and a place that actually HAS a vegetarian option on the menu. I just think there are enough of us vegetarians out there that a restaurant should have at least one option for us.

NYC, Washington DC, London, LA, San Fran and Melbourne have all been extremely easy to get veggie food in - in the UK most restaurants I went to had a little green V next to veggie options.

All this to say Paris is the worst place I've been to so far to get vegetarian food. My best meals were on the plane - that says something!

I get it, Parisians like meat, but it is a very international city and I really think they should have the options on the menu. While I choose to be a vegetarian, there was a guy in our group who was a vegetarian for religious reasons, I'm surprised an international city like Paris isn't more accommodating. In fact I was surprised at just how consistent menus were in Paris. I went to a big fancy restaurant with a view of the Eiffel Tower and a couple of smaller ones, the menus were pretty similar. I guess that's part of the charm of Paris that I don't get, its clinging to an old paradigm. Perhaps that's my ugly american side coming out, and I guess it is nice that they have a different culture, it just doesn't agree with mine :-D

Anyway, I got back last night, fighting jet lag today, but Dawn and I got out for a nice ride around Tolland, then I continued on and did a bit of a loop on my own. Nice 20 miles or so, even though Strava only caught the last ten minutes of the ride!