Wow!

SPF 30 sunblock from a tiny pharmacy near my hotel: 12 Euros

Lunch consisting of 1 French baguette, several croissants 3 large bottles of water: 7 Euros

More than 4 hours standing in the sun just to hold a place on a barricade to watch the race: Free

Seeing my first "live" stage of the greatest sporting event in the world: Priceless.

Words can't do this day any more justice. Here are some photos of the day.

My vantage point: After riding just a mile or two into the course, I found this corner and arch that I thought would be a great vantage point for watching the race, and for capturing some great photos. Arrival time: 10:30 a.m.

These first few pictures are of the vehicles in the Publicity Caravan that runs through the tour route starting about an hour ahead of the riders. (1:30 p.m. - 3 hours spent standing in the sun, holding our place a the side of the road)

Some of the cycling teams, in this case Française des Jeux, the French national lottery, had vehicles in the caravan.

Many if not all of the vehicles have people on board who throw out samples of their products or trinkets such as key chains, hats or newspapers. I came away with a small pile of stuff. Some people I was standing with were very adhament that they needed the laundry detergent sample thrown out by this vehicle because they were 3 days overdue to do laundry. I gave them the laundry detergent packet I picked up with no argument.

And then the racers started coming through (2:30 p.m. - 4 hours spent standing in the sun)

After a couple of teams had gone through, it was time to break out the beers. When Rick went to buy the beer, he asked the shop owner if it was legal to have an open container on the streets (as if we would have cared, really). The owner replied: "This is the Tour de France. Today, it is legal!

And the team cars came through following each team. Here is one of the team cars carrying spare bikes for the America team Garmin-Slipstream, based in Colorado.

Me and the Devil. This guy has been coming to the Tour de France for 20+ years, and he is always seen in the TV video feed in the mountains, usually running alongside the riders as they climb the mountains. He showed up on the other side of the street for us, so we all went over and had our pictures taken with him.

I even got to hold his trident! This was the highlight of the day for me. :-)

Here is one of my favorite teams: Euskatel-Euskadi, from the Basque country of Spain.

3rd team from the end, Saxo Bank. It was great that as they approached us, the overall race leader, Fabian Cancellara, wearing the yellow leader's jersey, was at the front of the "train." After today's results, Cancellara now leads by 2/10 of one second.

In the green sprinter's jersey, here is Mark Cavendish, who won the previous 2 days' stages.

And here he is: Lance Armstrong, wearing the greyish helmet. The Astana team was the final team to run the course.

And here they are just coming into the corner. At the end of the day, Astana won the day's race, and that put Lance into 2nd place overall, falling just 2/10 of one second behind Fabian Cancellara (above). GO LANCE!

And last but certainly not least, the 3rd place overall rider, Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour de France. He is wearing the orange and yellow Spanish National Champion's jersey here.

Last team (Astana) came through the our spot on the race course around 5:30 p.m. For anyone who's counting, that meant 7 hours standing in the sun, but it was so worth it. This was a phenomenal day!

Arrival in Montpellier

I took the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse - High Speed Train) from Paris to Montpellier today. It was amazing that we crossed basically 75% of the country in just a little more than 3 hours. The ride was amazingly smooth and arrived just a couple of minutes behind schedule.

Montpellier is a great town, and I am staying a little ways from the city center, so my decision to rent a bike was warranted. I have a nice Scott bike, a little heavier than the Scott bike I have at home, but it is pretty good for cruising around the city. It was so nice to be able to cover a lot of ground today in a much shorter time than it would have taken me on foot. One disappointing thing did come up today, though: I found out that the race route tomorrow will be completely closed, even to bicycles, from early morning until after the race is over. Basically that nixes my plan to ride the whole 30-some mile route tomorrow morning. I will just spend the morning scouting out a good place to watch from, and then will camp out till the race comes through. I better remember to pick up some sunscreen!

The thought occurred to me this evening that since I arrived in Paris, I have not eaten a meal indoors. Every restaurant here, both in Paris and in Montpellier, has a tiny amount of indoor space, but makes up for it with expansive outdoor seating areas, that are covered with tents or large umbrellas. I would assume that these areas are enclosed in some way in the winter, or perhaps residents cook more in the winter.

The pictures I've posted with this entry are of the main town square of Montpellier.

Happy 4th of July from Paris!

I explored St. Germain-des-Près and the Latin Quarter today. It was a very relaxing day, which I needed to recover from the jet lag of the day before. I considered renting one of the clunky-looking bikes that are available from electronic kiosks throughout Paris. I don't know, I think I'm too serious about biking to be seen on one of those, but then again, no one I know would see me, and it has been what, 3+ days since I've been on a bike. I don't want to be too out of shape when I get to Montpellier and my first rental bike.

I managed to find a nice little bar in the Latin Quarter with a TV, and when I asked, the Owner said "Certainly, we will be watching the Tour de France today!" So I stopped back after exploring the neighborhood and spent a couple of hours watching the Tour's Stage 1 from Monaco and chatting with the locals and tourists who were there. When I left I realized that some of the people sitting outside at this bar as well as the one across the street were the same people that were there when I went in, several hours earlier. The French sure do know how to do some things right, apparently.

And before I forget, I have to wish all my friends in the States a happy 4th of July. I am disappointed to have missed all the fireworks and picnicing. The thought occurred to me after I booked this trip that I should have extended my stay by 2 more days so that I could be in France on their independence day, July 14, Bastille Day, but alas, that will have to wait for another time.

Au revoir!

Thanks for showing me the closet. May I now see my room, please?

Anyone who has stayed in a major European city can probably identify with that title.

It should be added to common French phrasebooks for travelers: Merci de m'avoir montrer l'armoire. Est-ce qu'on peut voir la chambre maintenant?

Tour de France Trip - 2009

Hello Everyone!

As many of my friends know, I am setting off for France, Spain and Andorra on vacation, with the primary purpose of spectating at several stages of the Tour de France. This blog will chronicle my travels, and any interesting things that happen along the way.

I had pretty much planned out this trip back in October '08, when the 2009 TdF route was announced. I saw right away that the Tour was passing through Barcelona for only the 3rd time in its history, and since I had been wanting to get back to Barcelona for several years (I studied there in the Summer of 1986), I decided this was the year.

So I will be watching 3 stages of the Tour, and getting some (hopefully awesome) cycling in. there will be pictures-a-plenty to share, I'm sure.

Well that's it for now, as I must finish packing and head ofo the airport in a couple of hours. A bientôt!