The French chase

Ok, this isn't gonna be a quality post, but it's something I wrote on h.com and since I'm too lazy to write anything for the blog just yet, I figured why not post it in here to fill my quota [otherwise they torture me, you see].

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Visiting Paris a few months ago, we were coming out of the shul (the big one near the st paul station) after shacharis on Shabbos, and had absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day. [We were staying in a hotel nearby and didn't know anyone]. The exploratory mood mode was on and blinking. I turned the corner and spotted a Chabad-looking guy walking fast along Rue Saint Antoine in the direction of the Bastille. 'Follow that rabbit down the tunnel!' I screamed, and picked up my pace. My friend, infected with my enthusiasm was starting to get excited at this resemblance of an adventure. Now, mind you, I'm a really fast walker - I usually overtake 99% to 100% of the crowd during my daily walking commute to work. But this guy was FAST! He wasn't running...just intently strolling along in a forward direction. Yet we were quickly losing him. Despite complete lack of knowledge of Paris geography and lack of strength due to not having eaten yet, losing him was simply not an option. His final destination became the most crucial, the most important, an all encompassing enigma that was the only thing on our minds at that time. He quickly ran across the Bastille roundabout and disappeared into the crowd on Rue du Faubourg. The light changed, but we dashed across, ignoring all the cars. Safety was an unimportant detail now - the chase was on. My friend crossed to the other side of the street and yelled "Got visual on the target!". We starting running and he was now about 100 ft ahead. Passing all the fancy stores and immodest signs, we reached another intersection and were now maintaining a stable distance. However in about 60 seconds the situation changed dramatically and he was somehow again ahead of us by a length of a block and a half. To this day I do not understand how he was able to reach such velocity. For the next few minutes we struggled to keep him in sight and were reasonably sure he was near his destination - we were walking for 50 minutes already. A commotion in the crowd distracted our attention for a split second, and when we looked back, he was gone. I ran forward, peering into all the side streets, in all directions, searching for his prominent black hat and tallis draped form. But to no avail. After awhile, we gave up, and starting returning to our hotel, dejected. [This took another 3 hours because we got lost, but that's another story]. Who was this mysterious man? How did he walk so fast? Was it 'kfitzas haderech' perhaps? Where did he go, where did he dissappear to? All questions that remain unanswered...questions that plague me in my darkest, deepest dreams at night, from which I wake up with a cold sweat.