TdF Final Day

Bonne Journée,

What an action packed day it was.  Today was the whole reason we organised this holiday, to see the Tour De France live! And we did!

Let me start from the beginning, this morning Sean hired a bike and rode around the course.  I decided to sleep in and then do a bit of retail therapy.  Unfortunately Paris had other ideas.  At 9.00 am Paris was only just waking up and by 10.00 am I realised that they take Sunday off so no shops were open except the cafes.  Undeterred, there was a farmers/flea market across the road from our hotel so I headed over there. The sights, sounds and smells certainly got all the senses working overdrive.

Sean and I met up at lunch, had a quick bite to eat and by 1.00 pm headed over to the Champs Elysees to try and get a good vantage spot. As we got closer to the course, the streets were blocked off and the police presence greatly increased.  We even had to have a bag search, dispose of any liquids and have a pat down before entering the course precinct.  As we walked along the Champs the police were conducting bag spot checks and of course we got checked again. (Mind you Sean rode the course in the morning without any security so it doesn't make too much sense to secure the area only a few hours before the race).

Finding a good spot wasn't as hard as we thought it would be and we quickly set up, Sean focusing his camera and me setting up our new Tour chair so I could sit for the next 4 hours waiting for it to all unfold.  Unfortunately for us one of the water sellers left his bag and bucket unattended behind us so the police went into high alert and we were moved from our spot until they could investigate the "bomb scare". They found the water seller and we were eventually able to move back.  We ended up getting a better vantage point because a fair size perimeter was cleared (not nearly large enough if a bomb had gone off mind you).  The funny part of this is that only 10 minutes prior to the "scare" Sean was interviewed by CNN about the high security and basically said he thought it was overkill considering the course was completely open hours earlier.

At about 2.00 pm the ladies race came through which was quite impressive and around 3.00 pm the junior cadets rode past.  At 5.00 pm the Tour Caravanne (TdF sponsors) came through but the Tour did not arrive until 6.30 pm.  As we first saw the riders Sean went into overdrive and was snapping away like mad as you will see in the photos.  Anything that moved, he took a picture of.  I shot a bit of video as well so hopefully that will turn out. It was quite surreal seeing the race live.  They did 8 laps of the Champs so we got to see them for about an hour which was great.  Unfortunately we could not get near the finish line as the crowds had gathered there very early on in the morning.

Overall it was a brilliant day and the wait was worth it.

Lorraine

Au Revoir

Sean and Lorraine

Now a word from Sean:

Look through the photos of today for the animations, because I placed the mini tripod in a fixed position on the railing, Google has created some GIFs of the riders that look good.  Google did this while we uploaded the photos when we went out to dinner.

Funny Stories:

Another story we forgot from yesterday, you would have seen me (Sean) trying to use the public toilet, photos by Lorraine.  So these things are along the street and you press a button to enter them, they are unisex, so one person uses them at a time.  I press the button to enter, the curved sliding door opens, I step in.  I then press the button to close the door with instructions in French I cannot understand.  I then try to determine how to lock the door and it reopens.  More instructions in French.  I press the button it closes again, more instructions and what follows is a very Mr Bean period of time as I try to begin going to the toilet and the door sliding open.  Lorraine eventually departs thinking it may be her presence outside making the door open.  Eventually the door closes, more instructions in French, I finally get going (standing).  And then half way through the action the toilet tilts up and disappears for cleaning.  I of course strangle off the flow to much discomfort wondering WTF and then the rest of the cleaning action occurs, the floor of the toilet is literally flushed with water for those that miss.  Well let me say the discomfort was enough that I missed a lot while trying to stand on tippy toes to keep my feet dry.  Then the toilet reappears and I finish into it.  Of course that is not the end.  Lorraine has gone around the other side waiting and a lady decides she needs to use it, so presses the button to surprise me zipper down, old fella out trying to get everything back inside.  She apologises, I laugh and we part company, her red faced and apologetic, me laughing my head off.

Daily Links
2016-07-24 TdF Final Day
2016-07-23 River Tour and Walking
2016-07-22 Versailles
2016-07-21 Notre Dame, Bastille, Eiffel Redux
2016-07-20 Louvre Walking Tour
2016-07-19 Au Revoir Geneve, Arrivee Paris
2016-07-18 Geneve
2016-07-17 Train Rome to Geneva
2016-07-16 Shopping Day Redux
2016-07-15 Shopping Day
2016-07-14 Vatican Day
2016-07-13 Vespa Day
2016-07-12.2 Walking Tour
2016-07-12.1 AM Morning Ramble and Lunch
2016-07-11.1 - Ramblings
2016-07-10 BNE-DXB-ITA

Others
2016-07.1 Euro Holiday (entire collection, includes Lorraine's iPhone photos I have previously missed)
2016-07.2 Euro Holiday (new album as previous one full)
Google Compositions