Sunday, July 24, 2011

Tour ends Sunday on the Champs Elysees

It was the last day of the Tour de France and we were determined to see some bike racing. We started the day by visiting the old cathedral nearby. As we were in the building we stayed for mass at the 850 year old church. It was in French (of course) but the music was beautiful and the chairs filled.

After a lunch of home-made grilled cheese and jambon we set of to find the bike race where it began its laps on the Champs - not far from the Louvre. On the way we visited this beautiful old church, the Church of the Madeleine, dedicated, I think, to Mary Magdaline.


On the way we stopped for a sit down in the Tuileries and watched people lounging among the old statues with a modern Ferris Wheel in the background.


Then off to wait for a couple of hours in a place near the Louvre for the bikers to appear. When they did, this is the view I had as they went into the tunnel near the Jeane d'Arc statue. If you expected us on TV, we were well out of camera range.


After a couple of laps we moved to a better location on the Champs Elysees. This was as good a photo as I was able to get. It depicts the yellow jersey winner, Cadel Evans, as he sped by at about 40 mph. As is the case with most pro racers, they are very hard to photograph clearly as they zoom by.


After the race we had a tasty dinner at our neighborhood restaurant, served by a native Parisian guy, Frederick, who lives next door. A nice day.

1 comment:

Santini said...

I saw the ferris wheel on TV, and did indeed try to find you among the spectators -- however the cameras never really showed the crowd, always the riders, for some odd reason. It sounds like you had a full, perhaps exhausting day. I like the idea of visiting mass in an 850 year old church. Sounds way cool.

Nice post!