Last Sunday, July 23, John headed down to his firm's office on the Champs-Elysees to watch the finish of the Tour de France. While working on the Champs can be annoying much of the time (it's amazing how the widest sidewalk in the world can still managed to be blocked by a Dutch tour group), one of the perks is that it provides great views of events like the Bastille Day parade and the Tour de France. John was joined by friends Dave Kumar (visiting from D.C.) and Chris and Sophie (visiting from Montmartre), as well as various colleagues who gathered on the balcony to watch the riders whizz past on the avenue below. The Tour de France requires almost unhuman endurance: 20 stages over 23 days of up to 230 kilometers each, including mountain stages, flatter stages, and time trials. It all ends in Paris on the Champs-Elysees, which the riders go up and down about five times (meaning they went by our balcony about 10 times). Normally the race is decided before the final stage, so the laps on the Champs are more of a victory parade for the winner and a joyride for the other finishers. This years' Tour was won by American Floyd "the Pedalling Mennonite" Landis in a dramatic comeback. After the award ceremony, he took another victory lap, which we went down to the street to watch (that's Floyd in the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) waving to John):
Sadly, it turns out Floyd tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone and may be stripped of his title (John thought his inflamed gonads were due to saddle sore).
usa winner, but epo looser
vive paris et sa belle avanue des champs elysées, ses resto, ses clubs, ses boutiques ... vivement la rentrée !
Posted by: agenda paris | August 16, 2006 at 05:24 PM