Wow, the entire city was in a buzz! I would have to equate it to one of the Bowl Championship Series games! People everywhere, security everywhere, party atmosphere, but once again, not as much alcohol as I would have thought.
We rode in on the high speed train from Nimes to Paris, awesome experience other than it was too early in the morning!
Once in Paris we hopped on another bus and went down to the Champs Elysees. They pointed us to the grandstands for those of us who had purchased seats. Thank you Susan for making that possible without it I'm sure I would have been stuck next to some really stinky and rude people, whereas w/ the seats, I was able to view the race around all the white hats. Wish I could have stayed against the rail, but that wasn't the case. I still ended up w/ some decent pics to remember the event by.
While waiting, they were showing some coverage on the big screen w/ Paul & Phil commenting...was so nice to hear English!
The Caravan came by but didn't throw any swag, I never did end up w/ a Bbox hat--Bbox is a telecommunications company in France, hopefully they will be an Affinegy customer one day.
After watching the riders whiz past 16 times (8 laps and I could see both sides) Cavandish managed to get backt to the front after having a flat right in front of us on the last lap to once again sprint to the finish and win the stage!
Then the riders made their way past us down to the buses, the winners rode by again, then back by after the presentations. Then the teams made their lap.
After waiting for Lance to go by, I made my way to the Metro and managed to successfully find the hotel. Quick shower to get ride of Le Tour dew, then Courtney finally made it back ..for some reason she walked w/ Dawn & Deb. someone told them it would only be 45 mins, 1.5 hours and 3 crepes later, they were back.
While I got a paper panama white hat as my souvenir, Courtney was given an official TdF shoe polish kit! Guess what her dad is getting!
Anyhow, pics are posted here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84063&id=1038297795&l=4ab88252d3
now to explore Paris! Personally I can't wait to get home!
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