And a gute fahrt to you!

After landing in Calais, France on 8/2/09, we headed for our next destination……..Brussels!  Brussels was really just a convenient place  to shoot for, getting us half way to Frankfurt, and it would also allow us to add the Netherlands and Belgium to our list of countries visited as we traveled through.  We did enjoy the scenery also and even saw a sign that made us think of “home”……..

Did we take a detour somewhere??

We arrived in Brussels in the early afternoon and found our hotel with relative ease.  We found Brussels to be a pretty quiet city and very beautiful in many parts

Brussels hotel (was a Marriott Renaissance, but made to blend in with older architecture)

But many areas of the city were grafitti covered and under construction and it appeared to be a city mid-revival, at least to a very casual observer on first glance.  Our hotel stay, even though only one night, was very memorable though.  All staff at the hotel spoke 5+ languages and our front desk clerk, Erik, told us this was pretty standard for many areas in Belgium although you would find pockets of French speakers only, or Flemmish, etc..  The hotel concierage pointed us to an absolutely great local restaurant, where yes, I did eat mussels in Brussels (steamed in white wine and so yummy!) :).  Matthew had a local dish as well called Chicken Waterzooi, which he really enjoyed.  As we walked back from dinner, many street vendors shouted about their wares and barkers outdid each other to say their establishment was a better restaurant/bar/etc..  It was a great experience and made me really glad we had picked Brussels as our stop over point, not to mention our hotel room was about 4 times the size of any other room we had during our stay in Europe :).  We will always remember Brussels fondly!

One day left, and we are headed to our final destination, Frankfurt, on August 3rd.  We had mixed feelings certainly as we drive towards Frankfurt………we had had the time of our lives but we had also been going straight for 20 days now and missed our home (complete with my great dad-in-law who was housesitting, 3 crazy pups, our comfy bed, etc.).  We were pretty tired, road punchy, not really wanting to sit on a plane again for 10 hours, but also not wanting to leave in a small way.  We drove to Frankfurt really taking in the final scenery and talking about all the wonderful experiences we had been able to have.

I also am not proud, but we got a little road punchy, and we started noticing a common theme in Germany (we know at least Bill and Sam will appreciate this :D)…………….

*snicker* Sign when leaving German rest stop after lunch, bwahaha

*snickers louder* Exit sign

Enough, enough, I know!

Anyhow, “Gute Fahrt” means have a good/safe journey/leave but we could not stop giggling about it.  I actually have a few more pictures and may just have to make them their own picasa album 😀

Matthew was pretty excited to get to drive on the Autobahn one more time as well………

(Editors note…  I had this baby all the way to 195 kmh.)

That is kilometers per hour of course, but still about 112 miles per hour, in a Ford Focus nonetheless, hehe.  I will say I was less excited than Matthew about it :P.  Even at this speed, he had cars flashing their lights behind him to let them pass.

And just for Jim……..

And then we arrived safe and sound…….

We actually had a lovely, but quiet, evening in Frankfurt and flew out the morning of 8/4/09.  We did a little shopping, and oddly, had the most wonderful italian meal in our last night in Germany.  We left first thing the next morning, had an uneventful flight, and arrived in Dallas at 2:30pm with the time change.  It was great to see my AWESOME dad-in-law at the airport and who wouldn’t love coming home to this……….

All in all, I’m not sure the best way to wrap up this blog and I thought about just saying “To be continued in 2010………….” but that seemed like a cheap way out :D.  So, I can sum it up by saying (again) that we had an amazing time, 100 times better than we imagined it would be, we met incredible people and saw incredible things.  We saw 7 countries in 21 days.  We (Matthew) drove 6, 820 kilometers around Europe.  We witnessed Lance’s comeback year and saw 10 stages of the 96th Tour de France, and I fell head over heels in love with the sport…….Matthew was already there.  We can’t wait until the 2010 Tour route is announced and we are already planning our return, in hopes of seeing Lance race his inaugural year with Team Radio Shack.  We also hope to have a few travel buddies next time around and Matthew is already dreaming of the possible mountain stages to come.  We are so thankful for the best parents/in-laws in the world and Neil enduring the Texas summer heat for a month and Barbara for parting with him!!  I think the pups are still going through ride withdrawals :D.  And we thank everyone who read all this and sent the much appreciated comments!!  It was fun to put this together and share, as well as help us organize and relive our memories.  I know it is never as fun to hear about someone else’s vacation, but everyone’s excitement about it meant a lot to us! 

Only one more thing……….who is up for a 2010 trip?  We’ll arrange the RV and pick-ups, you just need to meet us there!  Gute fahrt until then!

By the way…………

We ended up with literally a suitcase full of Tour de France chachke to bring back (and this is after giving a large amount away at the time)

Tour de France chachke

If anyone wants anything, let us know and we’ll get it out to you 🙂

Fantastic, building a henge, are we?

I have to give credit to the comedian Eddie Izzard and his “Dress to Kill” performance for this blog title.  He does a whole bit on Stonehenge, and you can check it out on YouTube if you haven’t seen it, pretty darn funny :).  Anyhow, it is 7/31/09 and off to Stonehenge we go!  I, especially, was pretty excited to see Stonehenge and we had a nice drive out to Amesbury.  They do not tell you, however, that the roads heading to Stonehenge are not really made to accomodate the traffic for that area and we ended up sitting in some pretty serious traffic in the English countryside.  As I found out later, it is a great source of debate in England what should be done about the roadway issues in that area.  I was also surprised by the fact that you can just see it from the road……..

I guess in my head, it was supposed to be a pretty mystical place so seeing traffic jams, road signs, and then people milling around it like cattle spoiled the illusion a little.  Also, since the late 70’s, they don’t allow mass crowds inside the stones.  You have to arrange a special after-hours tour to do that (which we didn’t do ahead of time)………….we tried to go early in the morning for pics that would be as unspoiled as possible and got a couple of neat ones

I also did not realize the large amount of prehistoric burial mounds in the Stonehenge landscape, which proved to be as/more fascinating than the monument itself

Seeing Stonehenge though was not our only mission in the area either.  We had watched a travel show prior to our departure on the Cotswolds area of England, supposed to be one of the more scenic areas, and it did not disappoint!!  Our main goal was to visit the Bibury area, which lists trout farming as its main source of income.  It was truly a gorgeous area and again surprising, were the amount of tourists there. 

Stream Running Through Bibury Village

The stream running through the village was crystal clear and you could look in and see some HUGE trout staring back at you

We also finally got some bird pics in Bibury, although not the most exotic European species

I also liked that this black swan was clearing out weeds/gathering materials with his beak

Also, nothing to do with the beautiful scenery and trout farm, but we got a giggle out of this………

Sign reads "Failure to Pay May Result in Door Opening During Use" Doh!

This was a public pay toilet in town and the sign on the door read “Failure to Pay May Result in Door Opening During Use”………good to know the Brits find public humiliation a main motivator to enforce rules :).

You can actually tour the main trout farm in the area, and even purchase fresh trout at the source.  There is a sign saying that they only harvest those trout with some sort of visible damamge too, so maybe it lessens the guilt as you are eating 🙂

Bibury Trout Farm

You could also feed the fish there and it really seemed more like a piranha farm during the feeding frenzy

We wanted to see more of the Cotswold area that afternoon, so we said our goodbyes to the lovely town of Bibury and headed to a couple of small towns we happened to see on the map and had a little curiosity about……..the towns were Holt and Bagley :D.

Holt was very close to Bibury and was raining pretty good by the time we arrived.  The road there did yield an interesting road sign

Tank crossing near Holt, UK

There was a military base nearby we found out later 🙂  A more welcome sign was leading the way to the tiny town/village of Holt.

A couple of pics from the village itself………….

The village itself was very small and quiet, and although we hoped to find an open eatery or business in town, everything looked pretty boarded up so we moved along.  Off to find Bagley!

Bagley was even more rural than Holt and was a bit elusive at first, although our travels took us by the Glastonbury Tor, which is a conical hill and this one has the remains of St. Michael’s church, which is supposed to be Avalon of the Authurian legends.

We were excited when finally seeing the signs for Bagley!

And then  we drove through it……….

Yep, that was it 🙂  Actually, there was a small church and a couple of houses, and the surrounding area was very pretty

City of Bath

We then moved along to nearby Bath, where you can actually tour the Roman baths, however, it was frankly way to busy to stop and we were pretty tired at this point so we drove through Bath and dined at a small inn just outside the city.

Old Mendip Inn

We had some great pub grub here, and the wait staff had VERY thick accents.  Our waitress seemed unable to understand a word we said and we ended up pointing out all our menu choices, heh.  I liked that all the doors in the place were very small, Matthew had to duck to avoid bumping his head.

After leaving the Bath are and having driven all over western England, we were pretty wiped when we got back that evening and knowing we had to make the ferry the next morning, we got a good night’s rest.  Even though we were only about 90 minutes from Dover (where we were catching the ferry back to France), every where we go in England seems to take about three times longer than anticipated so we wanted to leave plenty early to make our 1pm ferry.

After a great full English breakfast the next morning, we hit the road for Dover.  It is really hard to believe that it is already August 2nd and that we will be heading home in 2 days *sigh*.  Crazy to think we started the trip with 21 days ahead of us and in a whirlwind, it had dwindled down to only two.  In a surprise also, we made it to Dover with little issue and in the 90 anticipated minutes.  We were even able to make the noon time ferry.  The Dover port was far busier than the Poole port where we entered the UK. 

Dover Port - Waiting to Board Ferry

We boarded the ferry along with this very off, Eastern Bloc looking kind of vehicle 

After boarding and moving into the passenger area, we pushed off from English soil and were able to get a really awesome view of the White Cliffs of Dover

We waved sadly as we left England and tipped our hats to the Queen, thanking the UK for lots of fun and adventures!  And a final………..Cheers!

Yankee Doodles Went to London

On the morning of July 29th, we headed out towards London, with a planned stop at Hever Castle, Anne Boelyn’s childhood home.  I really wasn’t expecting Hever Castle to be as busy at it was, but it seemed like a pretty popular tourist destination.  It was really a lovely site

You could tour the grounds, gardens, a small pond, and of course the castle itself which included the second most comprehensive art collection of Turdor paintings (next to the National Gallery in London).  Pictures inside the castle and of the art collection were not allowed but portraits such this famous one of Anne herself were included and pretty amazing to see first hand.  I didn’t know the portraits were housed at the castle so it was a really pleasant surprise!

I am pretty enthralled with Anne Boelyn so this part of the trip was a highlight for me, and I was glad that Matthew enjoyed it as well.  You are pretty much allowed free range through the castle itself and an audio tour is available.  Interestingly, the castle was purchased in the early 1900’s by the Astor (Waldorf Astor) family and lots of renovations were completed.  The gate house is still original, however, and you can see some original tapestries and furniture as well.  Definitely worth the trip!

On the way to London, we stopped at a small inn called the Grasshopper Inn and had a lovely lunch……no fish and chips, but I did have ale-battered praws and chips, yummy!  Since I always feel badly taking pictures while others are eating, I didn’t bring my camera in, and that always ends in regret.  Matthew did get some iPhone pics and I have to get them pulled off his phone.  The inn was exactly what you think of with an old English inn…….blackened ceiling beams, huge stone fireplaces, substantial mahogany tables and chairs, and Harry Potter as our waiter :).  Seriously, he looked like Harry Potter, only his name was Crumbles and he was a nervous little guy who said “Cheers!” about 26 times during our interactions with him.  Matthew wants to call the inn in the future just to ask for Crumbles :D.

As Crumbles would say, “Cheers!”……  Off to London!  Although we were only about an hour away from London as the crow flies……….we ended up driving through every little town along the way, and the traffic as we approached London put Dallas’ rush hour to shame.  We were so happy to finally arrive at our hotel and safely put the car in the parking garage for a couple of days.  I was happy that Matthew would finally be allowed to enjoy the sights as we traveled around London instead of always having to worry about driving as he had for over 2 weeks now.  We got up early on the morning of 7/30/09 and headed to the DLR and the Tower Gate Station to see the Tower of London!  We did not plan on the fact that we were traveling during London’s workday morning rush and ended up letting 2 completely full trains pass before finally getting on one with some room.  We didn’t care though, we were on vacation and thoroughly enjoying the fact that we had absolutley no time table at all :D.  We only had one full day in London and decided to make the most of it by heading straight to the Tower and then taking a double decker bus ride around the city.

When we exited the Tower Gate station, we stepped out into what appeared to be a business section in London and not at all where you would expect the Tower of London to sit, at least not where I thought it would sit in my mind.  But I suppose that real estate in London is too valuable to give the Tower much of a space all its own.  So we headed towards the entrance, and immediately towards the Crown jewels.  We had read that if you get to them the first thing in the morning, the lines were very reasonable, and sure enough we scooted right in with no waiting.  Of course, no pictures were allowed inside but they were pretty spectacular to view, including the 530 carat Great Star of Africa in the Sceptre with the Cross!  We then headed back to the entrance to enjoy a Tour with one of the Beefeaters.

Beefeater at the Tower of London

I was pretty fascinated by the whole Beafeater (officially called Yeomen Warders) concept.  Basically, the guys (and one gal) have all had a pretty long military career (22+ years I think) and have retired here to these posts and actually live in the Tower itself.  They all seemed very animated and pretty clever on the fly so I am sure there is a requirement for them to have a pretty lively personality.  They have a set speech they give, but seemed able to accomodate based on the comments and questions from the crowd.  They were in everday dress  when we saw them, but said they have a special red/gold uniform (like on the Beefeater Gin label) when Royalty is at the Tower.  Our Beefeater mentioned that Prince Harry had been there  a couple of weeks ago.

I also thought it was interesting that you could take pictures around the grounds but not in the buildings (such as the chapel where Anne Boleyn is buried under the altar).  Our Beefeater told us that the images inside the chapel (and most of the Tower buildings) are all copyrighted by the British government and even the Beefeaters are not allowed to take photographs.  He said in fact that one of the Beefeater’s grandchildren had just been baptized in the chapel last Sunday but pictures of the event itself were not allowed.

You could take pictures of the grounds though, including the square were Anne Boleyn had been executed

And the Ravens close to the White Tower (the original tower of the Tower 🙂 )

We were also able to view a special exhibit from the Royal Armory of King Henry VIII’s armor……it was pretty magnificent, although again, no pictures allowed inside

We also got to view the changing of the guards at the Tower

Seeing the Tower of London was a huge thrill for me, but around noon time, it became amazingly packed!  We decided it was  a good time to see the rest of the city and headed out on a double decker bus.  The weather was perfect for the bus and it was a pretty neat concept……..you could ride for 24 hours and just got off and on wherever/whenever you liked and they stopped at all the big tourist attractions (i.e. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, London Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, etc.).  With us having limited time in London, it could not have been a better way to see the sights!

We of course got all the obvious pictures of the famous tourist stops (Look, Big Ben kids!) and don’t want to bore you withn those, so here of some of my favorites of London……..I love this one of these 2 small children playing tag around the London Bridge marker and the little girl’s pink chiffon dress in motion

I loved all the people taming the lion statues at Trafalgar Square

I also like this one of Matthew feeding one of the locals near our hotel :)………

And although kinda blurry, I really like this one of the statues of a lion chasing down a gazelle in a park, with the motion of the bushes as we drove by and the little boy climbing aboard, but looking like he is just trying to hang on during the chase!

Was a long but fabulous day in London and we went back to our hotel that night feeling like we had seen and done it all.  It was sad to leave the next morning but was nice to be driving away from the London traffic and towards the western side of London to see Stonehenge and the Cotswold area.  To quote Crumbles again, cheers!

Lower the Drawbridge, We’re Storming the Castle!

With the 2009 Tour de France behind us and the more sight-seeing part of our vacation ahead of us, we left Paris on the morning of 7/27/09.  Matthew had wanted to see the Normandy region of France and Omaha Beach, and I had wanted to stay in a castle so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and headed towards Bricquebec Castle (now also a hotel and restaurant) with a stop at Omaha beach and the American World War II cemetary.  As we approach the Omaha beach site, I thought this sign was pretty interesting……

Interesting wording on Omaha Beach sign

Not sure which “people” category we fell under 😀 but we had arrived.  The Omaha beach area was really quite pretty and people were actually swimming and walking in the sand just like a normal beach.  There were memorials though, and the Star-Spangled banner was playing as we arrived and several people were standing in attention with their hands over their hearts.

Peaceful looking Omaha beach

Star-Spangled Banner was playing at US Memorial on Omaha Beach

On our way to the American cemetary, we also found this memorial, which was really fascinating to me.  I am a bit embarrassed but am not as well-versed in our American military history as I should be (now I know why Mr. Libby was always trying to teach us battle strategies in high school history class 🙂 ) and never really thought of what our solidiers had to overcome when trying to take over Omaha Beach.  This was an enemy bunker that had to be neutralized so that our soldiers and aircraft could successfully take over the area……..

Enemy bunker and memorial in Normandy

You can see the damage done to the bunker by US forces near the top and you can actually go inside and view the gun turret

Gun turret in bunker - Normandy

We next ventured to the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial.  It doesn’t clearly state it anywhere but we wondered if this was US owned land.  The grounds were meticulous and beautiful and there were signs everywhere asking visitors to be respectful of the American cemetary.  We were taken aback by the sheer amount of European visitors at the memorial as well, and throughout the entire region, you could see American flags being flown next to French flags and many signs thanking US and Allied forces.  You could either go straight to the cemetary itself, where over 9,000 US soldiers are buried, or you could go through a very well-done museum and welcome center first, which we did.  Within the welcome center was a database where you could search those resting there by state they were from, name, military regiment, etc..  We searched our family names from Maine and found these 2 soldiers buried here………..

Gerald Adams, Maine soldier buried in Normandy

Perley Hall, soldier from Maine, buried in Normandy

The museum was very informative and well-done, with short videos highlighting the details of the invasion and then exhibits of timelines, gear, and highlights of special heroes and feats.

Normandy Cemetary museum

I liked this little French boy who came dressed up for the outing and seemed very interested in everything he viewed

We then walked to the cemetary.  The clouds threatened rain, but it held off long enough for us to pay our respects.

Normandy cemetary gravesites

US Cemetary, Normandy

For myself, the visit definitely brought home the sacrifice of all those who secured our freedom and made me so fiercely proud of my husband, father-in-law, and family and friends who served and still serve in our US Armed Forces.  Thank you!

There is no way to do this but abruptly switch gears…….so off to Bricquebec castle we go!!  This castle was originally built in the 1100’s and was added on throughout the 1400’s, and has an illustrious history including being in posession of one of the Duke of Normandy, William Long-Sword’s, relatives, being used by the Knights Templars, being occupied by King Henry V of England, and being visited by Queen Victoria in 1857.  It now functions as a hotel in the Logis chain in France, and has a gourmet restaurant on site.  We would only be able to stay one night before boarding the ferry for England but were looking forward to exploring the castle grounds and relaxing.  As you enter the castle grounds, you are treated to this view

The castle (also called Bricquebec Chateau) sits up on a hill and interestingly, the town just kind of grew up around it, and is a very pretty little French town

Bricquebec village

When you enter the castle/chateau grounds, you are basically inside the fortified walls and moat

Bricquebec castle walls

and the main lodging section has 17 guest chambers, a tea room (we didn’t have the afternoon tea service but saw many who ordered it), a reception area, a bar, and a restaurant that only has 20 tables and if you are a guest, you get first dibs at reservations (which we did take advantage of).  They had a menu offering a few a la carte items and a wonderful prix fixe menu, which is what we chose.  Matthew ventured out and tried the fois gras (and enjoyed it), while I stuck with the prawns appetizer.  I did have the most delicious duck for the main course though, although I did feel guilty when feeding the ducks later :).  We both enjoyed the cheese course, and for dessert, we had a a fruit and sorbet plate and the BEST raspberry and chocolate tart EVER made.  It was worth the whole trip, hehe.  Since I always feel funny taking pics while people are eating, I didn’t take the camera in although I did get a picture of the empty restaurant the next morning/  It is called the “Knight’s Hall” and used to the castle’s great hall…….had a very cool feel to it!

Bricquebec Knights Hall Restaurant

I absolutely loved the entire experience and would highly recommend it to anyone.  It was a great way to say a fond farewell to France!  Oh, and we did get another baguette sighting…….this time a punk group of teenage boys were munching on a baguette 😛

On the morning of July 28th, we headed to Cherbourg, France to catch the ferry to Poole, UK.  Our schedule was a little bit tighter than it should have been 😀 and when we arrived, they let us know they were holding the ferry for us and to drive down the pier and we would see the crew flagging us down.  Matthew was speeding down the pier, and we see the ferry crew in fluorescent vests waving their arms.  Focusing on them, led us to sail right past the French passport exit control point, and led the soldiers at the checkpoint to yell loudly and brandish machine guns.  Matthew immediately stopped and backed up, apologizing profusely, and thankfully the French soldiers seemed to be pretty good-natured about it (I didn’t dare take a picture of them though 😉 ).  They let us go without issue and we made the ferry in plenty of time.  Just for the record, we were not the last ones on the ferry and arrived in Poole, UK safe and sound.

We felt relief in knowing we would be able to speak the language without problem, and did not anticipate the third degree we received at the UK border control.  They actually asked for proof of our return plane tickets and evidence of when we would be exiting the country.  Well, cheers to you too mate!  Seriously though, we were talking with the US customs officer when we came back through DFW and told us about our experience entering the UK and he said that was pretty standard and they do the same with anyone visiting from the EU as well (made us feel slightly better :D).  Matthew quickly accomodated to driving on the left side of the road, although I continued to find it disconcerting to see cars driving down the rights side, and seeing small children or people with their legs kicked up on the dash or snoozing, sitting on the passenger side (on the US driver’s side) continually gave us a giggle.

With our feet firmly on English soil, and after a long day of driving and traveling across the English Channel, we had a quiet night of rest and prepared to head to Hever castle and London on the next day.  Cheers!

C’est fini……we’re in Paris!

We drove into Paris at almost midnight (sounds like a great beginning to a novel, doesn’t it? 🙂 ) on July 25th after about 8 hours on the road from the south of France.  I will say that seeing the Eiffel Tower was like a beacon of hope rising before us.  Our hotel was within walking distance to the Arc de Triomphe and before we knew it, we found ourselves riding down the Champs Elysses in about 8 lanes of traffic merging together and moving en masse towards the Arc de Triomphe.  I will say too that the word “lane” is used pretty loosely as there is no defined lanes, or signs or lights, or anything really to direct merging or turning, but somehow, everyone seemed to conduct themselves as orderly as possible and no accidents occurred that we could see.  I will also say that I was a horrible co-pilot as we entered Paris.  Matthew is just trying to concentrate on keeping our little rental car safe and I am completely mesmerized by the night time sights of Paris, absolutely breathtaking!  I didn’t even try to take any pictures, I was like a bug just drawn to the light :P. 

After arriving at the hotel, letting out a big sigh of relief, and handing over keys to the capable looking valet, we walked into the lobby in our khakis, t-shirts and baseball caps and were greeted by very elegant people dressed up to enjoy their Saturday night in Paris.  Feeling like party-poopers, we only wanted a shower, bed, and room service, and after such a long day, it felt like we had the best of all three!  And waking up to a  beautiful sunny day in Paris the next morning wasn’t too bad either :). 

We headed out of our hotel the next morning and lo and behold, there were all the team buses and vehicles.  We hadn’t realized we booked the same hotel they were staying at, but it was a pleasant surprise!

I was pretty fascinated that they had fully mobile laundry facilities too (you can see them inside the Team Cevelo truck here)

After Matthew stopped getting all geeked up over the team vehicles :), we headed out towards the Champs Elysees (much more relaxing on foot I might add) and stopped at a great sidewalk cafe for Sunday brunch

With bellies full and hearts light, we headed towards the Arc de Triomphe and I was pretty excited to see it up close.  I was not disappointed and thought the statues and carvings were simply incredible

From the Arc de Triomphe, you could also look down the Champs Elysees and see the crowds gathered to view the riders enter Paris for the final stage of the 2009 Tour.  Up to this point, we had seen crowds, but nothing like this………..

To this point, we had become accustomed to a much more intimate Tour experience, but this was very commerical, “touristy”, and showy, and not to mention hard to move around in.  Much of the area to actually view the riders enter was already very crowded as well, or you needed a special pass to access.  Considering our options, we realized the best view we would have of the riders entering Paris would most likely be on one of the giant TV screens

And we would be unable to see the podium presentation, except on TV later, although we did see the podium before it was put in place

Knowing it would be difficult at best to actually catch a glimpse of the riders entering Paris, not to mention, we hated seeing Aberto Contador in yellow and toasting to his victory, we decided it was the perfect afternoon to enjoy the sights in Paris.  We headed onto the Metro and never looked back.  Our first stop was……..

We had heard The Louvre would have crazy lines and be impossible to move around in on a weekend day, but I think the Tour provided the perfect diversion because before we knew it, we were entering through the pyramid entrance

And we had plenty of space to view exactly what we wanted.  We were also amazed at how accessible the art itself is and visited the Greek antiquities, Roman antiquities and the Italian painter areas…….a very small portion of what the museum had to offer (how lovely would it be to have days there?).  Most of the displays were right out there and only respect of the art itself kept people from pawing at them I suppose.  Even the Venus de Milo had only a thin rope keeping people maybe 3 or 4 feet back.  I was in awe that this statue was created around 100 BC…..beyond words for me!

And my favorite statue was the Winged Victory of Samothrace……..incredible to believe that this is a third century BC creation

And of course, no visit to the Louvre would be complete without seeing her……….  The Mona Lisa was really the only painting behind heavy protection and we didn’t get a great picture of the area, but it was still relatively easy to view.

And besides the obvious works of art to view, the ceilings in most of the Louvre were unbelievable, and you could see most people walking around and looking up between exhibit areas.  Here is one of my favorite sections…….

We have a bazillion pics from here, and don’t want to bore you with posting too many so we’ll probably do a picasa almbum and send them out to everyone.  We did find it interesting on our way out to note the huge amount of people sitting around the outside pools with thier feet in the water (errr…….ewwww)

After leaving the Louvre, and frankly being pretty pooped after 12 days of go-go-go, we decided to have a nice quiet dinner and enjoy our last night in Paris.  After getting back to our hotel, Matthew went out to a nearby store and literally ran into the Tour teams packing up the bikes and gear, as well as some of the riders just hanging out.  Matthew hadn’t taken the camers since he thought he was only going to the store but he spent a good amount of time being able to chat up the Astana mechanics and various team members, who of course were thrilled with 2 Astana members on the podium.  Knowing what a big fan Matthew was, they gave him a champagne bottle they had used to celebrate with on the final ride into Paris, and one of the tires they cut off Lance’s bike before storing it for travel.  Pretty awesome Tour souvenirs!

This marked the end of following the 2009 Tour de France for us.  Even though we still have a week of vacation left, and are headed to Normandy tomorrow, followed by England, there was some sadness surround the end of the Tour and what had been a really awesome time for us.  We are VERY excited though that Lance has announced he will be back in 2010 with Team Radio Shack and its possible we went to bed that night with dreams of France in 2010 in our heads :).

Nom nom nom nom (eating sound effect) & THE Ventoux

On July 24th and 25th, we moved into the Provence area of France and focused on the feed zone areas in two Tour stages.  Before I get into the Tour stuff, I have to introduce you to Provence………………..the best way is to have you close your eyes and drink in the scent of fields of lavender. Notice that the farmer spelled “Provence loves the Tour” in the lavender.

And look around at the orchards, vineyards, and roadside farm stands……………..

It is a fabulous region, one of the most beautiful we visited I think, and we were able to drive through many parts of it on the way to the stages we saw here.  This is also the area where the Tour’s second to last stage, and really its defining moment, would occur on an infamous climb called Mont Ventoux or Le Ventoux.  Most people we talked to referred to it as THE Ventoux and it seemed to inspire complete awe from cycling fans, as it has hosted many important stages throughout the Tour’s history, and sadly, a cyclist passed away there in 1967 (has a pretty famous memorial there).  The Ventoux is actually bald on top and is pretty easy to spot from a ways away……..

We were forewarned by some German friends we made at an earlier stage that if we wanted to see the stage on Ventoux, we would need to get there 3 days early and camp out.  As wonderful as our little Ford Focus set up is, it would not afford us the luxury of staying 3 days on the mountain side.  So, our plan was to make our way there and get as close as possible, seeing a feed stage going into Aubenas and hoping to try for another water bottle or musette bag.  Well, let me sum up the time quickly to start with and then I’ll elaborate……..we could not get up Ventoux (as our German friends had warned us).  We got there a day ahead of time, and tried to sneak up the back side of the mountain but were foiled!  They had already blocked off the mountain to cars, although several cyclists were headed up.  In fact 2 flagged us down for water before they began the 12% incline (yes TWELVE!).

And we had success with Matthew getting a water bottle!!  In fact, he got 3, but the one from Team Astana (Lance’s team) made his day :).  It has some sort of sugar/water mixture in it by the way. 

So, although the Ventoux would prove elusive for us (and a win would prove elusive to Lance on this stage, and thus the Tour), we had a great time driving through the countryside, smelling lavendar at every turn, enjoying a wonderful dinner at a restaurant at the base of Ventoux, and even saw some folks playing bocci ball while we ate……….

We of course got some great cycling pictures too.  During the Aubenas stage, we were literally within the feed zone area (the 3 km stretch where rider receive food/drink from their teams) and a nice flat stage with very close access to the riders…………here is part of the Astana team escorting the yellow jersey (and eventual TDF 09 winner), Alberto Contador……..

And here is a good pic of a chipmunk mouthed rider followed by Lance who is reaching into his musette bag, yummy!

And because we could not get up the Ventoux, on 7/25/09, we ended up about 40km away (a little farther north) and just after the feed zone, where we hoped for the thrown water bottles and musette bags before they started the mountain climb.  In addition to the victory Astana bottle Matthew snagged here, one of the riders threw out this food item (which we did not keep) but it looked like a roll drowned in honey (sugar high!)………..

And many of the cyclists seemed to be discussing strategy with their team cars before the ascent up Ventoux………

We also met a lovely family from the Netherlands at the Ventoux ascent spot.  The dad was a total Lance fan, and Matthew spread more of the Livestrong word by giving their whole family bracelets, which they all put on and cheered………

I should mention too that the Dad of the family above was not in the picture because he was sitting down by Matthew in one of the Texas foldout chairs we brought.  Matthew offered him a seat and he said “Now, this is living!” and he seemed to get a huge kick out of the size of the chairs.  He also told us that he is in his 50’s and that he has cycled up Ventoux three times in ONE day, wow!  It should b e noted that Ventoux is considered a “beyond category” climb and when we came down it, our car breaks smelled hot :).

As soon as all the riders passed, we said our goodbyes to folks we met in the area and headed off for Paris, a long 7 hour drive north.  Provence will be well remembered for much time to come and we feel fortunate to have been able to visit it.  Au revoir Provence!

Tick Tock and Nuffin’ Else

Today was different as we attended the individual time trial stage on Lake Annecy (an absolutely gorgeous area!!).  I was pretty excited to see this stage, as I always like watching the time trials on TV, but I will admit it was very drawn out in comparison to the other stages.  Instead of seeing everyone pass in a 15 minute time period, you see the riders come one by one with a few minutes on average between each other.  We were positioned at the southern end of the lake (and the course, which circled the entire lake…..about 40 km total).  Matthew says I only have to post one picture to sum up the day and “nuffin’ else”……………

Let me say though (he knew I wouldn’t stop yammering at just that :D)……….we waited out 9 hours for that one shot of Lance above.  The riders ride in reverse order of their current standings, and I believe Lance was in third at this point so he was one of the last 3 to ride.  Matthew was the photographer on this day and took about 900 shots totally, 3 to 4 of each rider.  He actually ended up laying on the ground with his head about 6 inches from their bike wheels, doh!  It yielded some absolutley fabulous shots of each rider though, accented with their name on the front of the team car behind them. 

One of things I find most fascinating about the time trial is that they use completely different bikes (built almost completely for speed and difficult to manuever, with the rear wheel designed to reduce wind resistance) and gear, like the streamlined helmet……

We also entertained ourselves today (between riders) with keeping a running tally of baguettes (we constantly saw them with people walking down the street, in backpacks, strapped on bikes, and even small children running around with them…………

And we were entertained by a local group of Spaniards (dressed in traditional orange), who were there to cheer on Contador and the Euskaltel team.  They almost constantly sang and often performed synchronized routines, such as the rowboat here (this is also in the video Matthew posted on YouTube)……..

And when the Gendarmerie (local police force) tried to move them to the side of the road, they tried to bring him into their reindeer games 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew also took up nature photography in between riders, taking this shot of a local hiding from the escargot hunters……….

Although, I don’t think he can beat my Swiss bee (taken at Verbier)

Speaking of nature shots, we really have to apologize to the family birders …….we simply lacked on the bird watching and photo capturing.  Sounds like a trip to Europe in 2010 is in order for everyone 🙂

As I mentioned above, we have almost 1000 shots opf every rider coming through on the time trial one by one, so many great shots.  I know you don’t want to see a pic of every rider, so here is the gallery of fame (a couple I like best 🙂 ) for the day:

After seeing the entire Tour roster ride by individually, everyone ran to the nearest TV (a local business put one in the window for everyone and one of the RV’s had a generator and let everyone watch through the window) to watch the end………….

If nothing else, you cannot discount the fervor over the Tour on a large scale, and even if you are not a cycling fan, the enthusiasm is infectious.  The best sporting event in the world and thankfully, tomorrow brings more!!  Stay tuned!

He’ll be coming around the mountain when he comes…………

On Wednesday, July 22nd, the Tour riders find themselves still in the Alps and attempting to conquer 5 (yes, FIVE) peaks in one day!  We find ourselves on the second of these peaks called the Col de Saisies, and fortunate enough to find a great spot on the ascent before the mountain is closed to traffic.  We set up camp next to a lovely French family, who competed with our Texas and Lance Armstrong paraphenalia with their own huge banner for Thomas Voeckler, one of the French favorites in the Tour.  The seeming matron of the group would often look over and say “Armstrong” and give a “thumbs down” sign and giggle, followed by a “Voeckler” and a big “thumbs up” and a smile :).  The day was a little overcast with small periods of rain, but with this view, we did not complain……..

Our set-up was a bit different today with our American and Texas flag across the street and we also gave writing messages with street chalk a go.  Our messages included things such as “LIVESTRONG, MAX for 2033 (with a picture of a yellow jersey), Hook’em Horns!, and Go Lance (in red, white, and blue chalk).  Sadly the next rain storm did our work in, but you can see some of it here:

Our neighbors cheering, and that silver Velo (French cycling publication) car rides just ahead of the riders and gives Tour updates via a loud speaker system, in French of course, so it doesn’t do us a lot of good :).  You can see here that the rain had just come through, making the roads pretty treacherous for the riders! 

On this day, there was a breakaway rider early in the course.  He is a Norwegian named Thor Hushovd, and has a HUGE, and VERY LOYAL following.  He is wearing a green jersey, one of the four special Tour jerseys, which he earned for being in the leader in points (i.e. winning stages, winning sprints, etc.), and held it throughout the entire Tour.  You gotta love someone named after a Norse God, right? 😀

Thor was followed by a group, led by the polka dotted jersey winner (the best mountain climber wears this jersey), and I like his color coordination with his bike 🙂

There is a lot of national pride associated with where each rider is from, and most of the fans have a nationality link with their favorite.  The reason I bring this up is because it is curious to me that there is only one Japanese rider, Yukiya Arashiro, of the almost 200 Tour riders.  He doesn’t get tons of love from the European crowd so we like to cheer him on!  Look at the face on the rider in front of him, yikes!

Then comes the peloton, including Lance and most of the Astana team guarding Alberto Contador (Leader in the yellow jersey, and eventual 2009 Tour winner) and pulling him up the mountain.  It is coming out in bits and pieces, but there was pretty heavy tension between Alberto and Lance.  Will be fun to see how it plays out next year when they are on different teams and can really go after each other!

Everbody loves to cheer the underdog, and we heard this rider (Kenny Van Hummel) get great swells of cheers as he rode through everyday.  He really struggled in the mountain stages though, and you can see his cheeks are all puffed out in distress here as he climbs.  One of the major French newspapers here (L’Equipe) called him “the worst climber ever” in the Tour de France.  On both mountain stage ascents we saw, he was dead last and seems like at least 30 minutes behind everyone else.  We didn’t see it, but apparently he injured himself later this day and left the Tour.  Hopefully, he’ll be back strong next year!!

After poor Kenny rode by, it took us about an hour in traffic to descend the mountain, although we thankfully had some entertainment in the car ahead of us 🙂

By the way, we noticed public drinking sources all over the Alps……..imagine how much someone would charge for a bottle of this??

Sorry if you do, but I never get sick of pictures of castle/fortress ruins………this is one we saw on our road back from the Col de Saisies going back to our hotel on the Petite St. Bernard.  I am so in love with the French countryside!

As we drive back to our hotel, we pass through the French town at the base of the mountain, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, and the town that the Tour left from on this morning.  I REALLY love all the little yellow jerseys hanging along the street and it was a nice way to wind down from the Tour that day.  Our days have been so action packed, getting up early to get a good spot for Tour viewing, being in the thick of the Tour excitement, and then heading home with the other Tour enthusiasts in just enough time to eat some dinner (and sometimes not even making it in time, as many eateries here close their shutters around 7:30 or 8:00) and head to bed to do it all again tomorrow.  Vive la Tour!

Go tell it on the mountain………or go sleep on one

The Tour had a rest day on Monday, 7/20/09, and prepared for 2 very difficult climbs up the Grand St. Bernard and Petite St. Bernard on the 21st.  I very quickly learned that Tour fans LOVE mountain climbs, particularly ascents on high Alpine climbs.  Our hotel was located on the Petite St. Bernard, near the summit, on the French side.  Basically half the mountain is in France and half in Italy.  As we were coming “home” on the rest day from running errands in Bourg St. Maurice, we noticed that the mountain had a slew of new inhabitants camped out to get a good spot on the Italian side to see the ascent.  We relized that to get a good spot on the ascent, we too would have to camp out overnight, even though our lovely hotel was a mere 4 kilometers the other way.  So, we packed up our little car to be able to function as makeshift lodging and found a GREAT spot on the Italian side ascent.  We parked across from some nice Slovakian men (Matthew saved a beer they gave him since he figured he would never be able to buy this Slovakian brand elsewhere) and next to a friendly group of Italians, who spoke no English but offered us some of the most delicious yellow cake and drank and laughed all night.  A group of Swiss nearby spent the night doing this:

The following morning a great family from Holland came over to talk to us, as they saw the Texas flag and are huge fans of Lance.  In fact, one of the members of this family called himself a “sneaker artist” and apparently he does urban type art and is up and coming in that circle.  He was a really great guy and we spent a couple 0f hours talking with him and watching him create a tribute to Lance on the road with spray paint and a stencil.  For the big mountain stages like this one, they close off the road to normal traffic early in the morning of the race, and only amateur cyclists and official Tour vehicles are able to pass.  Once the roads are shut down, people begin to decorate the roads and here is Gaby in his creative glory…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished project……….voila!

While watching Gaby complete his art project, many people came by to chat, take pictures, send good thoughts to Lance, etc..  One very excited Italian spotted the Livestrong band on Matthew’s wrist and asked if he could buy it from Matthew and said he would ride down the mountain to get Euros and bring them back up, yikes!  Matthew assured him it wasn’t necessary to pay for it and gave him the band.  This gentlemen continually cheered Matthew and gave him a big hug :)………..here he is with the Livestrong band and a big smile

Some people also use the natural environment to make statments about the Tour, these folks are using the snow behind us to cheer on Bradley Wiggins, a rider from the UK:

Gaby also asked for a Livestrong band and Matthew was glad he brought several with him to hand out.  What a Livestrong amabassador!  Gaby also asked if Matthew could post his Texas flag near the Lance road painting to draw attention to it, which of course Matthew obliged……………………….

As everyone cycled or hiked up the mountain to watch the riders summit it, the colorful crowds began to decorate the landscape

I ended up being in a good spot for pictures as the riders were looking up to the mountain ahead as they entered the switchback.  Here is the lead group including Franco Pellizotti in the polka-dotted jersey (awarded for best performance on mountains):

I tried to focus on Lance here but he was on the opposite side of the road.  The 2009 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, is here in yellow.

This was my favorite picture of the day, showing a rider with a great expression, Thomas Voeckler, who is French and one of the favored.

After all the riders passed, it took us about 2 hours to drive the few kilometers back to our hotel.  Several of the RVers enjoyed being able to stay put and watch the traffic jam……….

Maybe that will be us next year 😀 …….anyone for a 2010 European trip?  Talk with you again soon!  Au Revoir!

Woke up in France, watched the Tour in Switzerland, and dined in Italy…………Life aint too bad

*originally created for Monday, 7/20/09 – posted and edited later (as internet connection allowed)

In actuality, we woke up in France, drove through Italy, watched the Tour in Switzerland, drove back through Italy, had dinner, and went to sleep in France today, but that would be a pretty lengthy blog title ;).  We made it safely to our hotel in the French Alps, arriving late Saturday night, actually after dark.  Our room here is actually called an apartment (sleeps 7 and has 2 bathrooms) and after the tiny room in Colmar, it is lovely to stretch out!  Our hotel is also literally at the top of the Petit Saint Bernard (or PS Bernardo as the Italians call it) and getting to it required driving up a twisty mountain road of switchbacks (many of which seemed like hair pin turns to me).  Matthew does marvelously driving over here (all the little cars here love to go zippy!), but I admit I held on to my door handle pretty tight on the mountain roads :).  The nice thing is that when we woke this next morning, this was the view of the Tarentaise Valley from our balcony……….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This area is really beyond words for description so here is a picture we took descending the mountain today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Everywhere you go is a beautiful mountain village, a cascading water fall, or a serene valley.  I would guess that living here, you must become numb to the sights, but as a visitor it is truly good for the soul to just look around and breathe in the Alpine air.  It is also a great place to recuperate after our long day on Saturday (7/18/09), driving from Colmar to Stage 14 in Delle and then proceeding to the La Rosiere area in the Alps.  

Stage 14 was a wet and cold one for the riders, and I was glad I brought a heavy sweatshirt and umbrellas.  We were able to get a great spot to watch the Tour in Delle, at the base of a mountain and in a feed zone.  The funny thing is that our rental car has German plates and we parked between 2 RV’s, whose owners immediately descended upon us and began speaking German, excited that we were all countrymen.  We had to disappoint them by saying that we were American, but thankfully they spoke English pretty well and were very wonderful to talk with.  Actually, we have met the most wonderful people in general, all so nice and really excited to see non-Europeans make the trip over for the Tour.  The two German gentlemen from the RV’s chatted Matthew up for a while, discussing everything from the riders (I think they were very impressed with Matthew’s knowledge of the sport!) to the national pension system in Germany.  Interestingly, when Germans turn 50, they receive 50% of their average salary and when they turn 60, they receive 70% and that is how everyone there retires.  These gentlemen were both over 60 and said they were using their pensions to follow the Tour :).  And speaking of RV’s………..there is a HUGE presence of RV’s following the Tour around and ALL of them have been small self-contained units or small cars towing a small camper, such as in the picture here…….we have seen not one truck or SUV yet.  Matthew asked if they had any trouble getting up the mountain stages and they said none at all. 

 These signs here indicate the area we were (the distance to the summit and the end of the feed zone area) to watch stage 14.  I think the amount of work that goes into setting up the tour route and taking it down to move to the next town is astounding.  Here is also a picture of some of the workmen putting a display sign and barriers up.  How many of these guys does it take though to cover the 200 km daily route and do it all again tomorrow??

It was also interesting to me how the whole feed zone works…….it is a 3 km stretch where the team cars can give the riders a musette (sp?) bag filled with a water bottle, power bar type food, and liquid carbohydrates to fuel them for the mountain climb ahead.  The riders then eat/drink what they want and throw the bag and leftover contents to the crowd.  Here are some of the cyclists eating en route…….

 Matthew was really hoping to get an item that one of the riders might cast off, and Lance Armstrong actually threw one of his power bars in Matthew’s direction (Matthew was dressed in Texas Longhorn gear and waving an American flag on a pole so maybe it was deliberate?) but a small German child standing next to Matthew ran over and snatched it up……those tricky Germans ;P.  Matthew was kind of bummed but went to talk to the family and when Matthew mentioned that Lance had thrown the food item, the father said he had ridden with Lance several years ago!  Apparently, he was trying to be a professional cyclist but he said the competition among German riders is very stiff and he did not make the cut.  Even in foreign lands, Matthew is able to chat up and charm everyone and learn all kinds of interesting things 🙂

 After the peloton passed, I was happy to get in the dry, warm car and head south.  It was a pretty lengthy drive but we went through Lake Genève and took the tunnel through Mont Blanc!  Tolls are pretty hefty in France and it cost us 40 Euros but was pretty marvelous to actually travel through this huge peak.  How many times can you say you drove through the Alps………literally!  As we drove through the mountains and ascended the PS Bernard for our hotel, the temperature drop was about 20 degrees and we arrived to 34 degree weather at the mountain summit………crazy to see snow on the ground here in July!

 

On Sunday (7/19/09) we woke up to 50 degrees and sunny, and honestly it felt like about 65 on the mountain top and was absolutely perfect!  We went to the local Patisserie for a baguette and pastries and bought some other supplies at a small market here.  This is a ski resort location and you can just picture posh Europeans running around town in all their ski gear at the height of the season.  It is relatively quiet now, but with the Tour coming through here on Tuesday, it is expected to be hopping and you can already see people camping all along the mountainside!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When we went into the grocery store, we noticed a rather scruffy looking poodle outside and when we opened the door she ran in and started going after a pup half her size.  Europeans by the way seem VERY dog friendly, taking them almost everywhere, walking them without leashes, giving them kisses in public, etc..  Apparently the vicious poodle belonged to the clerk (maybe owner?) of the market and she ran out holding the dog and throwing him in her car, screaming repeatedly about “le voiture” (the car…..and I was just happy to hear a French word I knew), hehe. 

After purchasing our picnic items for the day, we headed out and had an absolutely gorgeous drive about 90 minutes north to Verbier, Switzerland, going through Aosta, Italy.  We passed numerous amateur cyclists on the way to the Tour route that seemed to have no issues with the inclines in the Alps.  These cyclists by the way seem to range in age from their 20’s to their 70’s and ride a huge range of very expensive bikes to the Wal-Mart equivalent type ones.  Cyclists over here seem to garner a good deal of respect from motorists too and many roads have a separate lane for bikes and cars give them a wide berth, especially on the twisty mountain roads.

 

After arriving in Verbier and picking our spot to watch the Tour on the mountain’s ascent, we set up shop out of the back of our car (a Ford Focus diesel btw)………

 We garnered a huge amount of attention from our flags, ranging from cheers and claps of “Go Texas!  Go Lance!” to people stopping and chatting us up.  It is a GREAT, FUN atmosphere and just a feeling of people from many different places coming to share the love of a sport.  That sounded pretty corny and if I was a better writer I could probably convey that with less sugary sentiment :).  Anyhow, our most intriguing visitor was Dory……..Dory is from Seattle, WA and is a huge cycling fan!  He attended the Tour of California, Tour of Spain, and the Giro D’Italia this year before coming to the Tour and he has done this for the past few years.  He works for an Aeronautics Manufacturer and I would say he probably does quite well considering his travel schedule.  Really nice guy, and seemed super excited to see Americans out there!  As you can see from his bike, he has quite a set up (which he calls his kit) and it involves an American flag flying on his bike, a cyclist’s outfit (with one of the big American riders names on it), and a helmet with a large set of plastic caribou/big deer horns (those horns were part of the Levi Leipheimer hit, and he said he also has a helmet with a huge set of longhorns for Lance and another with a huge set of eagle wings for George Hincappie, another American rider).  He alternates out his kits, and when wearing them, runs alongside the riders cheering them on.  His goal is to get on TV I think, and you can often see him when watching race coverage on TV.  Matthew and I actually commented on his longhorn kit when watching a previous stage and before meeting him.  He hung out with us for a while, and soon we had a small group of Americans around us including folks from New York, California, Texas, and Colorado.  Was nice to hear English and American accents!!

 The excitement surrounding the arrival of the riders has not waned as we have traveled to 4 stages now……..it is still just as fun to cheer on the caravan and get their loot.  This is our German neighbor at stage 15 proudly displaying the cap he just snagged from the Etap Hotel caravan…………….

 Then the helicopters arrive  and then to finally see the Gendarmerie (French police) and their motorcycle lights escorting the rider in the lead for that stage………….

Even though you may sit there for 6 hours waiting for those 10 minutes of the riders passing, the connections with people from all over the world and the excitement of that moment, not to mention the breathtaking scenery, have made this a truly incredible experience!  Got a little corny sounding there too, sorry! 

 You can also see here how thoughtful Europeans are here…….this car from Switzerland had an interesting windshield fluid trick and apparently thought they could help us with our dirty windshield :D.  Or maybe…….it is just that the European cars are all so tiny that the windshield fluid just overshoots them??

 The Tour has a “Rest Day” today so we will probably take the time to rest up a little also, and try to catch up on what has happened on the Tour so far.  With only seeing a small portion of the race every day and not being able to read local newspapers or get internet reliably, we feel a little lost, even though we are here, hehe.  Thanks to Neil and Jim for their texts though!!  Keep ’em coming!  We will probably hit up the Intermarche (local grocery store), the patisserie, and maybe even the chocolatier again.  We had this sweet snack earlier………I love the presentation and it is just the norm in every little shop there.  I also wish I had been able to take a sly picture of the Italian couple at the restaurant last night.  They were an older couple and to me, the woman epitomized my idea of Italian women……..beautiful black hair, olive skin that was kind of weathered, and just seemed strong, both physically and in character.  She was bold, spoke no English, but constantly came over to us in a motherly way, asking if we were full and the food was good through a series of gestures.  When we paid and left, both she and her husband shook our hands and wished us well (we think anyhow 🙂 ).

 Tomorrow, the Tour comes by our hotel so we will be perched near the summit of the PS Bernard to watch it and are excited to see one of the true high mountain climbs.  I get tired riding up the mountain in a car ;P so I am amazed that they would bike up it, and after summiting the Grand San Bernard too……..amazing athletes!!  We are having a little bit of a hard time finding Wi-Fi (pronounced “wee-fee” by the French) in the mountain area (and we will be here for 3 more days) but will do our best to keep up with the blog.  Hope everyone is doing great!  Talk with you soon!!