Our wild ride to Stage 15 of the TDF

We were awake by 7 am, ate breakfast downstairs, packed the car and on the road by 8:15 am. We decided to take the slow roads today as time was not a factor…or so we thought. Love these French roads that are generally only two lanes…sometimes they have a passing lane on a hill…and roll through the countryside among fields of corn, hay…mostly freshly cut…vineyards and of course field after field of sunflowers! We were headed west and “the girls” were facing the morning sun in the east so I got some wonderful photos…even a “portrait” of one just for each of you to enjoy!

Just before we arrived in Pamiers, the beginning town for today’s Stage 15, we could see the snow dustings on top of the Pyrenees Mountains in the distance. This is the range of mountains between France and Spain and a favorite part of the Tour de France! The Tour will head there this afternoon. Our goal this morning is to catch them on one of the small hills just after the start from Pamiers.

Headed into Pamiers, ignoring the closed road signs and continued toward the center so we could get out of the other side of town before they really closed the roads totally….this could happen any minute as by now it was 9:30 am. We suddenly saw the RadioShack Tour bus outside the Hotel de France…the team was likely quartered here last night. The driver was cleaning the front of the bus and we stopped to say “hi” & “bonjour” to him but then decided to continue on. Wish I’d have thought to give the driver a card for Lance and to let him know we support him 100%! Maybe next time if we have another opportunity; this is the second time we’ve found the hotel.

Continued on through tiny streets until we hit a dead end; we turned around and faced a one way street the wrong way! Just then a taxi driver that I’d seen checking his GPS minutes before took off up the one way street … Jim pulled out and followed him…no one stopped us. The taxi was really moving and Jim stayed right on his heels as he headed down little streets that eventually took us out of the other side of town…the side we wanted to be on…and into the countryside. We almost lost him once but stayed with him until we were suddenly near a town and then he took what looked like a driveway! But, it wasn’t…suddenly we were at the road where the race was going to be coming through. A police woman stopped him….we hung back….no…she turned him around!

We discovered we were just outside the little town on Escosse, right on the route for the TDF. Not exactly what we wanted but we about seven kilometers from the start after a little hill. Nice French families surrounded us as it was 10:15 am and the Caravan was due at 10:45 am. I ended up walking up the road to see a display of flags when all of a sudden the Caravan arrived! Wow….I was all by myself with about twenty feet empty on either side of me. I had no problems gathering the treats that they tossed from the trucks; in fact I had so much I had difficulty carrying it all back to Jim when the last truck passed. He’d also done pretty well…we’re well supplied with snack food for several days!

We had another hour to wait for the race to come through but the time passed quickly and with our chairs it wasn’t all that bad. Because they were only a short distance from the start they were all together except for three who were a short distance in front. They opened the roads back towards Pamiers ten minutes after the last vehicle passed and we headed back towards Carcassonne. Had to make some detours along the way; the center of town was still tearing down from the start and had several streets still blocked. We ended up going back through Castelnaudary, stopped for a photo of the boats along the Canal Midi.

Just as we were leaving Castelnaudary I saw a house sitting right on the Canal and I remembered that when we spent a week cruising on this piece of heaven we saw (I’m sure) this house and we all joked about buying it and creating a “time share”. Good memories. I took some photos….Jim turned around so I could take them….and will look up the journal and photos from 1999 to see if I’m correct.

Another serendipity stop along the trip back was to check out a very old windmill that we saw from the road. We spent a lot of time following dead end roads to get a better photo but finally ended up taking one from a distance and then traveling on towards our new home for the night. We are spending our next two nights in Carcassonne on the western end of the city in a Balladins Hotel. Very nice one star…no air conditioning but they do have a nice big fan for us. Plus, we have our own bathroom. And…wifi is free and in our room also!

We arrived here about 3 pm and the race is just now finishing Stage 15. Andy Schleck had a problem with his gears and Contador took off…and took the yellow jersey with a difference of eight seconds. One of our favorite French Riders … we call him…little Tommy Voeckler…took first place on this stage. Not sure if it was 2002 or 2004 when he was very young and garnered the yellow jersey at the beginning of the race and continued to keep it day after day….it became a chant along the tour like the little train that could….

We’ve never forgotten Tommy and he is a National Champion now and still doing well. It was fun to see him win this stage; two days in a row that French Riders on French Teams have won the stage! The overall winners seem to be about the same except for Schleck and Contador switching the lead.

Tonight we’re going to splurge as Jim has seen the menu downstairs and it includes Cassoulet (special bean dish of this area of France with pork) and Canard (roasted duck). More fun to eat it here than in Paris….that was our last resort for his Canard if didn’t find it before we arrived back in Paris.

Hope you enjoy the new photos of the sunflowers…

Medival City of Carcassonne & Stage 14 of the TDF

Last night we enjoyed dinner here in the Abbey….or more correctly known as Notre Dame de l’ Abbaye. For ten Euros we were served bread, wine, water, a salad of half a avocado topped with tuna salad on a bed of lettuce. Then we were served a main dish of roast beef, rice and fresh green beans followed by a dessert of diced fruit. What a treat; and then this morning we enjoyed their breakfast for only 3.80 Euros. The same breakfast at a regular hotel is about 9 Euros. Even the candy and soda machines are half the price. We’ve really enjoyed our stay here.

After dinner last night we walked across the street and into La Cite: the main attraction in Carcassonne. It is a completely walled and working Medieval Village; there is nothing like this anywhere else in the world. We then went outside the walls to the old bridge and took some night photos from a distance before heading back for a little more Internet time….so unexpected…and nice to have.

This morning we left immediately after breakfast to catch Stage Fourteen of the Tour de France. We were less than half an hour away from Castelnaudary where the race was scheduled to ride down the center of town. This is also the town where we picked up our boat for the week’s tour down the Midi Canal with friends in 1999. Along the way I could not stop taking photos of the yellow carpets of sunflowers that stretched on both sides of the road as they turned their little heads east to catch the morning sun. These are teenagers and not all that tall yet; a few were babies that still had their eyes closed. But what a glorious summer day to drive through these beautiful ladies!

We arrived in Castelnaudary about 10 am; easily found parking about two blocks from the main street and carried our chairs over to wait for the Caravan that was due at 10:45 am. We were hardly settled when a French speaking Spaniard who made us look young asked for help in setting up his chair next to us. We continued to chat in our broken French in reply to his French statements that we really didn’t understand for the next couple of hours. At times he’d ask us to watch his things while he stepped away for what I’m not quite sure and just before the riders arrived he moved his chair to the opposite side of the street where there was more shade. He was a character and made the time pass fast. He wasn’t very quick on the pickup during the caravan so we gave him some things to add to those he caught.

After the Caravan we settled down to read the newspapers (race results and photos only as they were French Newspapers) and tried to stay cool as the sun rose high in the sky. I’d grabbed my blue umbrella from the car and as I have the low beach chair it was perfect to put it over my legs for shade. You can see the photos that Jim took of me. Suddenly I saw a professional photographer and his sound man…they glanced at us and then crossed the street. As they crossed I quickly got out our American Flag and draped it over my umbrella. Soon they were taking photos of me with what looked like a television camera. Afterwards they talked to us for a bit and made a remark about Lance and we said that we still support him and Jim reminded them that Liepheimer is in sixth place. They laughed and agreed and we gave them a thumbs up. So we may have made the “color” on some show about the race but we’ll never know for sure. I kept the flag on the umbrella and secured it with some clips that I had that made it easy for me to handle by myself as the riders arrived.

Just before the riders we had a visitor from Austin Texas with his Texas Flag. Had fun with them; he is in the Navy; mother is French and they are they’re visiting with his grandparents. Parents lived in Newport Beach at one time. Realized that his wife and little boy were with him and we gave his son a hat and one of the green hands that were passed out earlier. We didn’t exchange names but he has my card and promised to check the website and send an email.

Found the car and headed back to Carcassonne the fast way on the A 61 and checked out our Balladins Hotel for Monday and Tuesday before heading home. Found the manager when we entered; staff is limited on Sunday. Asked about the television room and he showed us where it was located. We’re the only ones in here and have the place to ourselves. Right now they are climbing a Category One Mountain and they’re dropping like flies off the back. Today will really separate the boys from the men as they head into the Pyrenees where the riders will be for the next several days.

It was a great day for the French rider Christophe Riblon of the French team AG2R La Mondiale. He broke with a group within the first twenty kilometer and ended up doing the last twenty on his own and took first place on the 14^th Stage of the Tour de France! This was his first win on any major race. Andy Schleck still has 31 seconds over Contador for the overall lead. Team RadioShack lost their first place team position; they are eight seconds behind the Spanish Team Caisse d’Epargne. Lance Armstrong has slipped to 38^th position overall after losing more time today. But, they are one of the few teams that still has all of its members riding and that seems to make a big difference for the team award.

For my Holland friends from yesterday…congratulations on your Robert Gesink did very well today coming in sixth in today’s stage. That was the name they were chalking on the street before the race! He is now 4’27” down overall and is in 6^th place; knocking our Leipheimer down to 7^th place!

The museum here in the Abbaye is now open and we headed over to tour it before it closes at 6 pm. Dinner is not until 8 pm so we’ll have some time to walk back over to La Cite for another walk into the medieval world. Actually, we ended up finding out at the Tourist Information Office in La Cite that there is one more Mass this evening. We had to rush back to the car and drive into the newer part of the city but we found the 6:15 pm Mass at St. E. des Carmes. Lovely Mass in a church that has to be at least five hundred years old and I’d say it hasn’t been restored for nearly one hundred years…..dark and missing lots of paint here and there but a delightful experience with very nice priest and guitar music!

After a delicious fish dinner at the Abbeye we walked over to catch the last rays of sun against La cite from the old bridge and then ventured one last time into the interior of La Cite before calling it a night. Tomorrow we move hotels and attempt to catch another stage of the race.

New Holland Friends

The sun was shining and it was about 70 degrees when we left our little Hotel de la Post about 8:30 am. We first drove to Mende where the race ended yesterday; as we drove through town we passed all of the team motor homes that were picking up the riders for their hour long bus ride to the start of today’s race. It was tempting to stop and see who we could see, but decided we needed to keep moving as we had lots of ground to cover today.

Our first adventure was to the A75 so that we could see and drive over the Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world that was recently completed. Before crossing the bridge we took the off ramp to the viewing area so that we could climb to the top of the hill for some great photos before we actually drove across the structure. Couldn’t believe the number of people who all seemed to be doing just what we were doing! Soon we were back on the two lane mountain roads that twist and turn as we went up and then down many little mountains on our way west towards Albi. If we can actually make it we’ll go to a museum there on Toulouse Lautrec, the famous artist.

We were nearly there when they closed the road for the Tour de France. We were at the half way point for the race. We knew that it was a good possibility so we were prepared to spend a few hours. We thought we might make it to the other side before we stopped but had gotten caught in heavy traffic in the town of St. Affrique where they were having their Saturday Market. It was about 12:30 pm and the Caravan was due to roll through about 12:45 pm. We settled in our chairs (so nice to have) and waited. We had lots of people on both sides but no one was speaking English. We got quite a few of the items being tossed and stuffed them into our bags before settling down to wait the hour plus for the bicycle riders.

I thought I heard the father use a bit of English….earlier the mother was taking a photo of the two girls and their father and I offered to take it for her and she’d indicated “no” but with a smile! I took a chance and asked the teenage daughter if they lived nearby? That began a wonderful conversation with the whole family. They were on holiday from their home in Holland and all spoke excellent English. They’re camping nearby and this was their first experience to see the Tour de France live. They will be in Paris but the day after the Tour ends which we said might not be that bad based on our previous experience. Ended up giving the father a yellow “Live Strong” bracelet and the mother and two girls some hats that we’d collected today as they had not gotten any of them. Shared my website card and took a photo of them to publish as our Holland friends.

Then the mother of the family on the other side of us who had been busy after the Caravan passed using chalk to write messages of encouragement on the pavement came up and spoke to us. She was impressed that we had our American Flag out and offered to take a photo for us. We talked and they also were from Holland and loved the name Jansen…very Dutch they said. I also gave them a website card and took some photos to publish. They usually watch the Tour on television the father said but they are on holiday now and were camped less than fifty kilometers from here. Someone told them they should go see a stage and mapped it all out for them. So much fun to get to know people around the world!

Just before the riders came five helicopters suddenly covered our area…taking pre-photos we assumed. Maybe our flag was in there? Then we had to wait another half hour for the riders to arrive; they’d had a tough climb just before they rounded the corner on our hill. There were three riders away and the peloton soon followed. Got a few good photos but none of Lance…they come just too fast and in too large of a group! But its fun as they woosh by! I did recognize the team manager for RadioShack again driving one of the team cars.

Back to the car and finding small roads that would take us south without running into the race again. It was after 3 pm by now and we had a long way to go. We made it to Realmont and hit another road block due to the Tour de France…yes we’d crossed their path again but this time they were finished and we only had to wait a short time before they opened up the road that we needed to go south on to get to our next hotel in Carcassonne, not far from the Mediterranean Sea. Yes…we’re in the south of France and I’m seeing fields of sunflowers…..but no lavender!

We arrived in Carcassonne about 6 pm and found the Notre Dame Abbey without too much trouble. We do work well as a team with Jim driving and my map reading skills. And, we’re pretty good about not yelling when we make mistakes; even when we have to turn around and go back five miles or so. The Internet said that the Twitter of the day was from Lance Armstrong who said that whoever invented round-de-rounds must have hated bicycle riders. Personally, they’re great when driving as sometimes we go around four times to make sure we’ve got the correct road!

Yes, we’ve got hard wired internet in our room for one computer…we’re taking turns….we did have to put the sheets on our own beds but we’re looking forward to eating dinner and breakfast served by the monks…fantastic price; and a tiny bathroom in our room. We are just across from the ancient walled city and will be walking over there tonight after our 8 pm dinner.

Haven’t found the television yet but we hear there is one in the common room. Jim is on the Internet and gave me the following report for you. The breakaway group of three riders that we saw in the countryside were caught at the very end. Alexandre Vinokourov of the Astana Team passed them at the very end to take the stage….just like yesterday! It’s kind of sad when they work so hard to be out in front most of the race and then lose as the last minute; but very common.

Andy Schleck still has the yellow jersey as he is 31 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador. RadioShack is still the first place team overall the other teams. Jim says it’s because they don’t have any sprinters and all come in well on the hills time wise.

So for today…au revoir

Travel Day in the Mountains West of Grenoble

Last night we spent time on the computer searching the roads that the race will be on today. We’ve determined that our hotel for the night is right on the course. We also called and found that they do have wifi! By 8:30 am we were on the road headed south towards Grenoble on the toll road. The miles flew and soon we were there and off to the slow roads…but free….that would take us west through beautiful mountains for the rest of the day.

I did see a few fields of sunflowers but alas the only lavender I saw was in small bunches that had been planted for decoration. We are just too far north for the lavender fields. I’ve enjoyed the fields of animals held in by a few wires…they teach them young that those few wires are electric! The mountains are so beautiful; even as we drive away from the French Alps we are climb into mountains that are green with life among the forests. Small villages and groups of farms dot the roads that wind and twist back and forth over the rivers and streams that run between the mountains. At one point we were following a group of cars connected to the Tour de France. We reached a point that was less than half an hour from our hotel about 1 pm….they had stopped the traffic because the road was part of the race.

Already there were people lining the sides of the highway; we told them our hotel was that way….it was at least an hour until the caravan was due but they wouldn’t let us through. We checked the maps and found that if we went further up the road that was open we’d find a small road that would take us into our hotel the back way. An hour and a half later we arrived! Yes…we are directly on the route and this road allowed us to get to the hotel! The caravan arrived about fifteen minutes after we checked into the hotel!

Jim got our chairs out of the car and we waited for the Caravan in style! After it passed we went back into the hotel and watched the race on television in our room for the hour that it took for it to arrive outside of our hotel! So nice! Took Jim’s chair back to the road and settled in for a few minutes before the riders and helicopters arrived. I heard two fellows speaking English and asked the question: where’re you from? They had just arrived minutes ago in a rented motor home…their very first experience…they were very excited…and they are from Chicago. Lots of fun telling them the little tidbits that make a difference in following the tour; they are going to follow it the rest of the way into Paris. They had no idea about when the roads close…how early to be on the mountain, etc.

Had fun talking with them while we waited; the one we talked to most has been living in China for three years…working for an American company…and was very interesting. The riders came by in three groups and a few stragglers. We’re nearly at the end of the course here in L’Habitarelle at Chateauneuf-de-Randon. They have only a short distance from here to the end of the race today in the city of Mende but the last two kilometers is a killer climb after 208.5 kilometers (about 130 miles) on a hot and humid day.

Right now we’re watching the interviews after the closing and it’s raining in Mendes so we should have it here soon. The breakaway group that included RadioShack’s Andreas Kloden did really well until the very end on that killer hill; the tour leaders Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador took off at the very end and Contador easily sailed past the break away and nearly took the stage. But another rider who had helped him leave the peloton actually ended up taking the stage at the very end. Joaquin Rodriguez, a Spanish rider with the Russian Team of Katusha took first place; barely edging out Contador…last year’s overall winner!

FYI….the head butting incident yesterday resulted in the disqualification of Mark Renshaw of Columbia Team. He was always the last rider to help bring Mark Cavendish across the line. He will be missed but how sad that an American caused such a problem.

But the bottom line for the day was that other than Andy Schleck losing about ten seconds to Contador everything remained the same and Andy again was awarded the white (for the best under age 25) and the yellow jerseys. We’re in our room now enjoying a bottle of wine with our dinner. Jim had a can of his pate canard and I enjoyed some bread with my Nutella along with a shared can of Saladieres Parisienne…the wonderful creamy one that has tuna and vegetables in a creamy white sauce. Dessert later will be the last chocolate bar in the bag. Life is good and everything is right with the world tonight!

Tomorrow we head for Carcassonne and two nights in an Abbey. I’m sure we won’t have wifi there so will have to find both places to watch the race and McDonalds for wifi time later in the day. We will have two straight days of long driving but will be spending four nights in Carcassonne; two in the Abbey and two in a Balladins Hotel.

The Castle of the Dukes of Savoy

We slept in this morning as the Tour de France arrived far away in Provence last night. They are headed north again today and we’ll try to find them for a bit tomorrow on our way west. At the grocery store this afternoon we found two beach chairs on sale for a total of 13.50 Euros so the next time we stop we’ll have some chairs to sit on for the hours it takes to watch them whiz by! By the way…never had rain last night; just lots of wind and it’s hot and humid again today! Lance Armstrong Twittered Wednesday that Tuesday night in Chambery was “Quite possibly the hottest night of sleep I've had in awhile”. His coach had also twittered that he didn’t have air conditioning in his hotel that night so I’m assuming that Lance didn’t either!

After a light breakfast we headed into Chambery to see two of the most famous sights of the city. The first one that we found after we parked in a parking garage was the famous Fontaine des Elephants. This fountain was built in 1838 and commemorates one of their more famous citizens by the name of Bonoit de Boigne for his feats when he was in India. It has become a focal point and very popular place in Chambery. The other famous site sits at the opposite end of the street…you can actually see one from the other…is the Castle of the Dukes of Savoire (Savoy).

We discovered that the Tour de France actually left from this area yesterday….but it was much nicer to visit today without the crowds. We joined in with the 10:30 am tour (what luck…the next one would not be until 2:30 pm) and even though the guide gave the tour in French occasionally she would explain something very important to us in English. We were taken into the basement area of the oldest tower and then into a fifteenth century tower where we climbed to the roof for better views. The stairway we went up was actually rebuilt in the nineteenth century because it was weaken by fire. We stopped in the city council room along the way. The views from the roof were wonderful of the city and surrounding mountains. Chambery was a crossroad of many ancient routes and sits in a valley surrounded by mountains.

You’ll notice the “cows” of various colors. For years we’ve been seeing these all over Europe. They generally commemorate some special occasion. You’ll notice that in the Castle there was a red polka dot cow about the mountain climbs this week for the Tour de France and of course a yellow jersey cow representing the grand prize! They are sometimes used as fund raisers and/or to raise awareness of events but I’m just not sure how it works. But work they must because they’ve been around for a long time!

After the Castle we spent some time seeing the old part of the city and then finally the Cathedral. It is rather modern on the outside as it was remodeled in the 1990’s but the original structure dates from the 1500’s.

Back to the hotel to watch the race this afternoon on television and pack for our trip tomorrow morning; we splurged at the store on the way home and purchased ham and cheese for sandwiches for lunch. Not sure whether or not we will have the wifi tomorrow night as we are staying in a small hotel in the National Forest just east of the A75, a major route from Paris to Barcelona. On Saturday we will drive over a new bridge on the A75 over a valley; it is known as the Millau Viaduct; some of you may have seen information on this bridge on the internet…it’s a popular one of those ….who would want to drive this? Check it out when you’ve time. Recently completed it has the highest bridge piers in the world. The span is 2.5 kilometers from one end to the other.

The race is over and as the RadioShack Team’s Manager Johan Bruyneel predicted this morning on his Twitter: Mark Cavendish of the Columbia Team took first place. A bit of a mystery to us (no English) was the head butting that took place during the sprint at the finish line??? But, the overall results are still the same with Andy Schleck in first place.

The Tour de France is also going west on the same day and will arrive just south of us on Friday night. Hopefully we will have an opportunity on Friday to find it somewhere. If not…on Saturday it arrives just north of Carcassonne where we will be staying for a few days. So until next time…which may or may not be tomorrow…Au Revoir

Bastille Day in France

Happy Bastille Day! There will be fireworks tonight to celebrate but since it doesn’t get dark until nearly 11 pm; we probably won’t see any of the show! But this morning we were out the door by 8:30 am looking for the roads to be used in the race today. Based on the information from the Caravan Crews yesterday, we located the D1090 that wasn’t far from our hotel that is south of Chambery. Then we worked backwards until we were nearly at the start line in the city center of Chambery. Turned around and headed back…stopping regularly to take photos of the wonderful displays that people set up to honor the tour.

We had preselected several good spots on the way into town but our favorite was on a curve at the bottom of a small hill that had shade for Jim and a public toilet only two blocks away at a park on a lake. We pulled in with several other cars alongside a beautiful country house. The owners came out and in French let us know where we could and could not park. Later, he directed another car to our favorite spot that he would not let us use….he must have been holding it for a friend. But they were friendly enough and generous in sharing their space with the American Tourists! Each time something would happen; the owner and his wife would come out of the house and enjoy the events.

We’d arrived at our spot before 10 am; the Caravan arrived about 11:30 am….didn’t get quite as much of the throw aways today as there was more competition for the items than yesterday. But, we did get another jersey and several more hats along with some other things. Jim stood on the opposite side of the road along the vineyard but he had some competition there also. One of the items they were tossing was a package of liquid soap…it hit me square in the face on my nose…smarted for about ten minutes!

After the Caravan passed we had another hour to wait for the bicycle riders who arrived at 1:15 pm. I took the opportunity to walk to the park where I watched the kids swimming in the lake. A group of boys had rigged a long rope from a tree and were jumping into the lake. Many families were enjoying picnics in the park as they waited for the Tour de France to arrive. When we heard the helicopters overhead…a sure sign that the riders were nearby; we stood with our flag on the corner and the French owners gave us a big “thumbs up” sign when they saw our flag! Lots of waves from the support cars as they passed by; there was a small breakaway of eight riders out in front but the balance was in a peloton at the point where we saw them. It was still very early in the race. They are headed down past Grenoble today and into Gap after several mountains.

It was announced last night that Cadel Evans broke his elbow on the fall early Sunday morning….the same day he managed to win the Yellow Jersey. They didn’t announce it until yesterday as he rode in the Yellow all day…and he will continue to ride but has lost all opportunity for a strong finish because of the injury.

After viewing the race we drove back to the hotel so that we could watch today’s race and also take care of checking the banking online…something very necessary during a trip. In reading the French newspapers we’ve discovered that Lance Armstrong is #31 overall and 15 minutes 54 seconds behind the leader Andy Schleck as of the end of the day yesterday.

RadioShack Riders in the top standings are: Levi Leipheimer is # 6 at 3’59” behind Schleck and Andrea Kloden is #20 at 9’05”. Chris Horner is # 25 at 11’06”.

Team placement to date: RadioShack is second place only 5’53” behind the first place team of Caisse D’Epargne. Astana is third with 8’40” behind and Saxo Bank is 9^th at 14’36”. This is based on the overall performance of the entire team.

The race ended with a young RadioShack Team member named Sergio Paulinho winning Stage 10; all of the other standing remained the same. A rather uneventful race except when they showed the film of Beloki’s crash in 2003 as he was coming into Gap and Lance Armstrong in the yellow jersey had to cut across a field…they were on a hairpin curve…to stay in the race and not hit him as he lay on the road with a broken hip. They showed it without warning (at least we didn’t understand) and for just a second we thought that we were seeing a crash! Added an element of excitement to our afternoon! Jim used the microwave in the lobby and fixed us TV Dinners that we’d purchased at the store on Monday….really good…I had rabbit and potatoes in a sauce and Jim had chicken and rice in a tomato sauce; a nice change from our cold dinners of Tuna and vegetables out of a can! Yes…we’re still shopping at the grocery store and fixing our meals in our room….very economical. It’s a fun challenge on this trip to see how cheaply we can travel and still enjoy ourselves! Jim is looking for canard (duck) in a reduced sauce and that will make his day!

Right now we have a big storm brewing; I think its part of the system that dumped on Paris today during the big Bastille Day Parade. The news on the television showing their parade indicated heavy, heavy rain.

We drove around our area this evening; we’re in a village called Chignin, about ten kilometers south of Chambery. Some corn crops but mostly vineyards that go right up the mountains. We have a castle just up the hill so we drove up to get some photos. The one has been restored and almost looks new from a distance. There are several towers covered in vines from an old castle. It was fun driving around in the hills; amazing how the narrow roads just kept twisting up and up and up…occasionally coming to a very small village and then continuing on. We finally turned around or we’d have been in Switzerland before we knew it! Back to our hotel and a few photos of the lavender plants in the entry…couldn’t resist!

Getting to know the French people!

Post Script for Tuesday....

Well….we walked out of our hotel this evening and found that we were full of Caravan people from the Tour de France….especially the water trucks for Vittel and the St. Michel Stores….what fun. We first drove into town to look for the signs to discover the streets for tomorrow. But, they’re not putting them up until early tomorrow morning we discovered.

Drove back to the hotel and I asked one of the fellows from Vittel if he spoke English….yes….and he stopped what he was doing and walked me to his truck for his map book to give me all the directions for tomorrow. Soon his friend joined us and before we said goodbye he’d given Jim six huge bottles of ice cold water! What fun….and who said the French are not friendly!

On the Mountain for Stage Nine!

We were out the door by 8 am and found a beautiful clear morning with a great view of the French Alps that tower over our hotel. The rain storm last evening cleared the air and the humidity level was way down! The temperature reads 20 degrees which translates to 70 degrees in the USA. We headed towards Albertville along the river banks on the slow road feeling very secure about our directions since we’d had a trial run yesterday. Made all the right turns and suddenly realized we were way off course; somewhere the navigator made a wrong decision…opps…that’s my job! Ended up spending about an hour but we finally did find the correct roads, not sure just how we did but the important is that we did!

We arrived at our destination on the road that winds up the Col de la Madeleine just before they closed the highway to traffic. We parked the car up against the hill and I climbed out the driver’s side as I was not able to open my door. Jim hiked up to check the lay of the land and came back in less than half an hour: success….we’re only about twenty minutes from some perfect seats on a corner.

Packed up our supplies and headed up the hill on foot at about 11 am. We found seats on some flat stones against the hill; laid our red poncho over the dirt and weeds and we were settled in for the long wait. The riders would arrive between three and four o’clock this afternoon.

Information on this particular mountain: Col de la Madeleine is a 25.5 km ride @ 6.2% grade….from 374 to 2000 meters. They will have ridden over two smaller mountains before they arrived at our spot and had to complete this climb and then one more before the end of the today’s stage.

People watching is great on days like this. One overweight man at least seventy in yellow shorts, a beer belly wearing his Sunday leather shoes! Twice we saw groups using roller skies going up the mountain. Lots and lots of bicycles; about ten percent of the riders were women. There was a couple of tandem bikes….one had set it up so that the partner faced the back; very unique and will probably catch a photographer somewhere today. Many people had flags of different nationalities on their backs. We had our American Flag on the hill beside us and had some strangers take photos. When the race came by we held it up between the two of us and got lots of thumbs up and horns thanking us for displaying the flag. We’ve not seen as many American flags this year as compared to prior years!

The Caravan arrived about 2 pm….we got so many things: about 7 hats, key chains, a jersey, 3 bottles of water, and many other things! Lots of fun as they are tossing them at you as they go by about twenty miles per hour and you’re expected to jump up and down and waive your hand for them to toss their give aways at you…then it’s a mad scramble to beat the fellow next to you!

About 3:30 pm the first group of riders came by….only about six….then another larger group and I got a good look at Lance Armstrong who was in that group at that time. Also his coach, Johan Bruyneel, was driving one of the support cars and gave a thumbs up to our American Flag…lots of fun.

We gathered our things and headed down the hill as the stragglers followed the leaders up the hill. They’d all passed us by the time we reach our car. Bumper to bumper but Jim had done a great job; parked it downhill and had left a bit of space in front. We pulled out and headed back to the hotel; arrived in time to see the last half hour of the race!

The winner of today's Stage Nine was a French rider named Sandy Casar of the FDJ team. The new leader of the race overall is Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank Team with Contador of Astana in second place. RadioShack's Levi Lepheimer is in sixth place overall and less than 4 minutes behind the leader. Lance Armstrong finished strongly today but is way back in the field over all. But, the French love a loser who comes from behind so more of them are cheering him today! Only time will tell where he will finish!

It’s evening now and we’ve finished our dinner. We’re talking about driving into Chambery to check on the route tomorrow; the race begins here and they head for Gap in Provence. We’ll see the start and then enjoy the next two days here in Chambery.

Arriving in the French Alps

I stayed up until nearly midnight last night to see the final game of the World Soccer….yes…at the end of the overtime I watched as the world watched Spain score a goal against The Netherlands! Very exciting….I thought for sure that they were going into kicks….Jim had said to wake him up if they went to that. He woke for a minute when they scored but that was it! I turned the television off and fell sound asleep!

Up and on the road by 8:35 am it was already 25 degrees, that’s about 85 degrees in California! We had a long drive ahead of us as we’re driving the toll roads all the way to Chambery in the south near the French Alps; about a five hour drive. We’ve decided to splurge on the toll roads for the long drives instead of finding our way on the National Roads; much easier.

Along the way I noticed that the sun, in the east, created beautiful rainbows in the rain birds that were being used to water the cornfields this morning. We were headed south to Mulhouse; from there we will head towards Lyon and then before we arrive in Lyon we will head east again towards the French Alps.

At 11 am I saw my first field of sunflowers….our girls….love them so much…we were just outside of Dole, France. We continued on through the farmlands of France…mostly corn fields and freshly mowed hay…lots of rolled hay in the fields. As we drove it kept getting warmer and warmer…by the time we arrived in Chambery at 2:15 pm it was 39 degrees…that’s over 100 degrees in California! Rick Steves says to double the temperature and add 30…for an average temperature.

Our home for the next four nights…a very new Formule 1 hotel….is closed until 5 pm…unless you want to check in using a credit card…and so we decided to drive to Albertville and check out the road course for tomorrow.

Albertville was the sight of the 1992 Winter Olympics in France. This will be in the middle of the Stage Nine Tour de France tomorrow and has a wonderful climb up the Col de la Madeleine tomorrow. We are only about 50 kilometers from Albertville so off we went to check out the course. We had a wonderful time driving part way up the mountains checking out all the trailers that have already parked for the best views. I stopped and talked to several fellows from Denmark, complete with trailer and they’d only arrived an hour ago. On most mountains one must arrive several days before for the prime spot that they had for their trailer!

Back down the mountain and over to our home base for the next four nights in Chambery; we checked in and then hit the grocery store for supplies. The best news is that this is a very new and clean Formule 1 hotel and it has free wifi!!! And a fast wifi; even better!

You’ll notice at the beginning of the slideshow…a photo of Lance taken from the web yesterday when he crashed into someone who’d fallen in front of him. It was not a good day….word on the web is that he will begin to support his teammate Levi Leipheimer who is now in eighth position and definitely in contention for winning the 2010 Tour de France. But then, Lance may surprise us as the race is still young! The important thing is that he is part of a very supportive team and racing for a wonderful cause….the cure of cancer!

Touring the Villages on the Route du Vins

Our schedule today put us back into Colmar for a couple of hours. On the way in we took another look at that statue of Liberty; it is much taller than we thought so I put two photos in the slideshow…one has a motor home nearby so you can gauge the size. I’d say it’s well over thirty feet. Remember, the designer lived in Colmar. The Unterlinden Museum opened at 9 am and we arrived just after opening. Jim was one of only a handful of tourist during the hour that he spent filming what he’d missed yesterday when he’d forgotten his flip video camera. I enjoyed the hour in the almost empty plaza outside the museum reading my novel on my Sony Reader. This is my first trip with an electronic book and it has worked rather nicely for the few times I’ve had an opportunity to read.

By 10:30 am we were at St. Martin’s Cathedral for Mass. It’s a beautiful church and I had not noticed the “last supper” tableau, a wooden carving, in a side chapel. After Mass we walked back through Colmar Centre to the car and headed out of town for our tour of the villages on the Route du Vin. In Italy one visits the Cinque Terre, the five fishing villages along the coast; in Alsace Lorraine you visit the small picturesque villages along the Route of the Wine….there are seven recommended by Rick Steves Tour Books and we visited four of them today. And there are lots of vines; it seems to be just about the only crop in the area! The grapes are still small and green…see the photo…and harvest is still a few months away. Most of the wines that are produced in this area are white wines.

Our first was the village of Eguisheim; they all have flowers hung from every wall but this one is especially pretty and has the wonderful Y in the road with a tiny little house in the cradle of the letter. The half timbered walls bulge here and there and they keep them painted in pretty pastel colors. We had a few light sprinkles while here…did I mention the thunder and lightning about midnight last night. But, the umbrellas remained in the car for the day.

Our next village was Turckheim. We didn’t do as much walking in this town but Jim enjoyed the “photo board” and I enjoyed seeing our first nesting storks. This area was originally renowned for their nesting storks on the tops of very steep roofs and generally on chimney tops. One of the last photos on the slide show is of a metal nest made for the storks…but still empty….in the last town we visited. The one in Turckheim was on a chimney top. This is the only one we’ve seen and they sell stuffed storks as souvenirs.

We drove through Kientzheim that has a WW II American Tank and a Jeep in their memorials to the wars and the fighting that occurred in this area and then made our final stop in Kaysersberg.

Kaysersberg is another quaint village most known for the fact that Albert Schweitzer lived here. They also made a deal with the Germans not to destroy their bridge during the war. Above the city are the remains of the original walls that protected the medieval city. Many of the buildings we saw today date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with ancient fortifications.

We headed back to the hotel to watch the ending of Stage Eight of the Tour de France on television with our “fan” to keep us cool. Lance Armstrong came up in the numbers yesterday; coming in at fourteenth overall. Time is still down and today they have some mountains to conquer. He took a tumble at the base of the first climb so it’s another tough day!

We also have the final world cup in soccer to watch tonight….yesterday we watched Germany win third place; rather exciting since one of their goals was headed in by Mark Jansen, a member of the German team. No, he is not a relative but fun to watch him.

We’re at the McDonalds for our WiFi hour….Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank took first place in Stage 8 of the Tour de France and also kept the white jersey for being the best rider on the tour under age 25. Cadel Evans, an Australian riding for the American team of BMC is wearing the Maillot Jaune (Yellow Jersey) as of today. Andy Schleck is second overall just behind him. News on Lance is not good…we hear that his front wheel broke today causing his fall. Still not sure just where he is in the race but we know he’s not in the top ten!

Au Revoir

Museum in Colmar

We slept in this morning….so nice….kept the window closed last night and survived the night with no new mosquito bites. After a picnic breakfast in the room we headed towards the shops that surround our hotel. We found that most of the shops were clothing outlets but one had a clerk that spoke English and when we told him we were looking for an electric fan he told us to go to Cora that was located just a short distance away. Sure enough…we located it easily and it also had a gas station and being Saturday it was time to get our gas-oil for the weekend. Another experience as we had to wait until the fellow in front of us paid; there was one cashier booth for about ten pumps…but it went much quicker than we’d expected. We drove on over to the store; it was a super, super, super Wal-Mart! You name it….they had it…including a food court. We purchased a fan for less than fifteen Euros and two cokes as we’d forgotten our water bottles.

Off to the highway to Colmar. One of the first things we saw was a fifteen to twenty foot tall Statue of Liberty; later in the day we heard that the designer of the Statue of Liberty was born in Colmar. We drove around the city and found free parking that was only a short distance from the city centre.

We easily found the Unterlinden Museum; a wonderful collection of everything but especially the Isenheim Altarpiece. I remember this one piece out of all of the many I’ve seen because it includes the risen Christ with blood hair! It was very exciting to see it again. To quote Rick Steves, “Jesus rockets out of the tomb as man is transformed into God. As if proclaiming once again, “I am the Light,” he is radiant.” Another find was a five fingered vase….I look for them everywhere as my friend Shari has a collection. This was labeled as a Tulipiere, from the eighteenth century. So many wonderful things; since we have both a new grandson and our first great-granddaughter arriving in October and December….I loved seeing all of the old cradles.

One room had musical instruments; a glass harmonica from 1805 was made of glass bowls. One of the last exhibits that we saw was a large exhibit of the art of Joe Downing, an American Artist that lived and worked in Paris after WW II. His work would be considered modern art, a contemporary of Picasso who admired his work and arranged for exhibits for him.

Leaving the museum we walked further into the city center with all of the half timbered buildings. Hopped onto a Mini Train that took us around the Cathedral and other areas; finally dropping us at the Petite Venise: a collection of colorful, half-timbered house that are reachable only by the canal. We took one of the boat rides years ago so enjoyed our mini train ride this trip. From there we walked back to St. Martin’s Cathedral and enjoyed a cool moment inside the church. We are watching for shade to walk it; it’s very hot and humid.

Tomorrow we will venture back into Colmar so that Jim can visit the museum again….this time with his Flip Video Camera; he forgot it today. I’ll bring something to read along the cool waters of the canal. We easily found the car and headed back towards our hotel that is located in Houssen, a suburb of Colmar. It’s a lovely little village with a huge barns behind nearly a third of the homes. It’s definitely a farming area but the homes and barns are all located together. There we headed for the Cora Store and did some shopping; including a multi plug extension so that we can run the fan and charge the computers at the same time. We have only one outlet in the room; I bring an extension cord with me but it only handles American plugs. Yes, we found a 3 port one for only 2.50 Euros. After shopping for breakfast foods for tomorrow and Monday we headed for the Mandarin Restaurant in the food court for a wonderful dinner of beef and mushrooms plus vegetables and a drink for only six Euros each. Jim is finding the tuna and rice canned dinners can get a bit boring after a while. So we’ll have to supplement sometimes.

Our dinner at McDonalds last night was good and it turns out they now have “free wifi” at all of their restaurants. So tonight after I get everything typed we’ll head over for some wifi time and maybe a dessert.

We arrived home in time to watch the end of the race after Jim put his new fan together. Good thing we had a pocket knife with a mini screw driver….but it’s working beautifully and Jim is a happy camper. The race results were different today after their first day of mountain climbs. Sylvain Chavanel of the Quick Step team took first place and also the yellow jersey. Lance gained some of his time back today but until we sign on to the Internet we won’t know where he stands after today’s ride. They only post the top ten on the television. Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank took the white jersey today for the highest rider under the age of twenty five years of age.

Driving to Colmar from Reims

Our last morning in Reims was spent packing and getting ready for our four hour plus trip to Colmar on the boarder of Germany. It’s been about ten years since we visited the region of Alsace Loraine and we’re excited about seeing the sights in this quaint town again.

We decided to move up the car pickup time from 2 pm to 11 am; our clerk in the hotel called and made the arrangements for us. This has been a terrific hotel right in the center of things except for no air conditioning. Last night we went out into the garden to read for an hour before walking over to the Cathedral for some night photos again. It finally started to cool off about 11 pm; it doesn’t get dark until about 10:30 pm. Because of construction there are not nearly as many lights on the walls but it was still worth the walk.

We picked up the car after stopping for a close up view of the war memorial near the Roman ruins; it’s a smaller car called a Twingo by Renault, a blue two door with very little trunk….we’ll definitely have to take the luggage in each time. Fortunately we’re not doing a lot of tourist things between hotels so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. We’re at each hotel two or three nights for the most part.

Our drive was great once we made it out of Reims…we got turned around several times and it took us over an hour to get back to the hotel for the luggage and then out of town to the A4 highway. There is so much construction on city streets right now that directional signs don’t mean a whole lot. In two more years this is going to be a wonderful city to visit but for now…..not easy to get around.

The weather is cloudy and as we drove east we encountered rain starting around Metz. Had an interesting experience at a highway rest stop toilet; it was the first “French” toilet that I’ve seen on this trip. (They’re not actually called that….I call them that because the first ones I saw were in France in 1992…since then I’ve encountered them around the world!) They are basically a hole in the floor with places to put your feet. This was a very new one, stainless steel, with an electric eye flush. Opps….I must have moved in the wrong direction and it started to flush while I was using it! It was clean water but I still didn’t like getting my shoes wet!

We skirted around Strasbourg and headed south towards Colmar and soon found our hotel for the next three days. We are out in the countryside north of Colmar. No air conditioning but the room is cool and facing to the south so we shouldn’t get direct sunshine. Hard to tell today as it is overcast…but the rain has stopped. They don’t have their wifi working so we will have to go over to the nearby McDonalds and use their service for the next three days.

We will spend our time here visiting the quaint little villages that surround Colmar. We’re looking forward to seeing them again.

We’ve just finished watching the end of the Tour de France Stage 6 that ended in Gueugnon today….yes…we do have a television…no remote but hey….for 33 Euros a night; not bad. And we do have our own bathroom in the room!

Mark Cavendish of HTC Columbia took first place again and the rest came in together in one large peleton. So Fabian Cancellara still has the yellow jersey and our Lance Armstrong is still 2.5 minutes behind and in 18^th place overall. No real surprises as this was a fairly level….but the longest day of the race….and a sprinter was expected to take the stage.