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OT - cycling in Paris part 4



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 4th 03, 10:01 PM
wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX
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Default OT - cycling in Paris part 4

Once rested and refreshed, Vernon, Nathan and I set off by foot, pushing our
bikes through the Parc du Champ de Mars and underneath the Tour Eiffel, which
was packed with crowds trying to go up the tower itself. At the other side of
the tower we mounted our bikes once more and set off for the Champs Elysées.
We could see there were still cyclists just completing the Randonnée, coming
in over the Seine via the Pont d'Lena, as we had done earlier. We followed the
general flow heading up the hill to the Champs Elysées. When we got to the
L'Arc de Triomphe already the place was heaving with bodies and the Real
Cyclists weren't due into Paris for some time yet. Finding a place near the
turn on the Champs Elysées by the L'Arc de Triomphe that was near the front of
the barriers lining the route, we settled in to wait with the rest of the
crowds. We were a tiny speck in the estimated million spectators lining the
Champs Elysées that day. There were many more throughout the rest of Paris
too.

We waited five hours for the cyclists to arrive, as it turned out. During that
five hours the crowds grew deeper. We were joined, in our little bit, by a
friendly French family, an English couple who came to France every year in
their motorhome to watch the Tour, a family who were part living in England and
part living in America (Chicago) and then by an American couple from Texas, who
had come to see Lance Armstrong. The Texan lady, Cindy, was very American
indeed, dressed in her denims with a t-shirt covered in rhinestones depicting
the stars and stripes and she was wearing a necksquare, also of the stars and
stripes. In her ears she wore rhinestone earrings of red, white and blue in the
shape of the Texan lone star. She and her husband were absolute sweeties,
joining in the fun of the day, chatting with all around. She was like a slim,
petite Dolly Parton in terms of her personality. The other Americans from
Chicago were a bit more visually subdued than Cindy, but just as nice. They
weren't, however, cyclists. One lady said to me, "My sister here, she's
wonderin' why your saddle on your bike has a hole in it." Let me explain the
background here. The saddle on my bike is a Terry's Liberator TiLite, complete
with strategically placed hole to provide comfort and ease any pressure on
those delicate parts of the female anatomy which are placed upon it when riding
a bike. So I looked at the lady and, keeping a perfectly straight face, I
answered her. "It's for wind. It's a turbo boost effect." I replied. Cue hoots
of laughter from adjacent Americans but with Nathan saying, "That's it, Mum's
at it again. She's nothing to do with me! Really, she isn't." Cindy from Texas
laughed out loud and said, "Y'all know now how Lance has won the Tour so many
times! Wind power!" Cue more hoots of laughter from American crowd. Cue more
groans from my teenage offspring…

The crowd was good-natured, and the time passed happily even though it was
raining. Then clouds broke, the sun came out and the tour cavalcade duly
arrived not long after. There were floats of the different sponsors of the
Tour, the various team cars with lots of spare bikes on the top of each. What I
wanted to know was why I couldn't have one of those going spare. Not fair! At
this point, the nature of the crowd started to change. A few latecomers tried
to barge in near us. It got quite heated, at one point, when a woman, then a
man tried to barge their way through the crowd next to us, all of whom had been
good-naturedly waiting for hours in a very confined space. Words were exchanged
nearby which were obviously not polite French words. I could see an
international incident brewing. Luckily the people trying to barge in took the
obvious hint. They tried further down the line and we saw gendarmes being
called. It wasn't pleasant. Then the cyclists came by. Whoosh! They were gone
in a blur of rainbow colours and the whirr of pedals at high cadence. Whoosh!
They went by on the other side of the road in the same kaleidoscopic blur and
whirring of pedals. Blimey, they went up the cobbles a fair bit faster than I
did! It was a bit like being at the Cup Final, I suppose, in that you didn't
see much but the atmosphere was electric. I did manage to get a few photographs
of bits of blur as they whizzed by. Then I noticed a guy using Nathan's wheel
rims as a platform from which to edge himself up for a better view. I politely
asked him to remove himself from my son's wheels. He didn't budge and pretended
not to hear me. So I asked him again, "Excusez-moi, Monsieur…" He gave me a
filthy look. So I risked an international incident at this point, and got a
hold of his arm, looked him squarely in the eye, said, "Non, Monsieur, non s'il
vous plaît. Merci beaucoup." and pulled him firmly off the wheel rim of
Nathan's bike and then smiled at him. At this point, he looked a bit surprised
at a large middle-aged Englishwoman getting stroppy with him. I was somewhat
annoyed at his utter lack of respect for someone else's property. I thought to
myself, "Look here, Sonny Jim, how would you like it if I stood on you!" He
didn't stand on Nathan's wheel rims again.

In a while, the squashing was getting all too much, so Vernon, Nathan & I
decided to wander down the Champs Elysées towards the finish line of the main
event. This was enjoyable and I loved people watching. Down towards where the
shops on the Champs Elysées ended, I woman came up to me. "Excusez-moi,
Madame…" It turned out she was a journalist from a local newspaper writing
about the Tour. She spoke much better English than I spoke French, so we
chatted for a while. I told her that the Randonnée had been a magnificent
event and that Paris was a joy to cycle in. She told me she cycled in Paris but
found it to be a scary experience. I told her the drivers in Paris were much
more considerate than the drivers back home in England. She then said to me
that I was the third person she'd interviewed in the hour, who was not French
who had said that the Parisian drivers were courteous to cyclists and prior to
that day she never thought she'd hear Parisian drivers being described as
courteous. At this point, Vernon and Nathan, who had been in front of me,
wandered back towards me and saw me chatting with the journalist. I could hear
Nathan say, "Dad, she's managed to do it again!"

We slowly wandered around the finish area, watching a bit more of the cyclists
racing on the giant TV screens placed nearby and meandered over to where some
team back-up vehicles were parked - the CSC team coach and some Bianchi
vehicles. By now we were getting a bit tired, having been up so early, cycled
round Paris, stood for over five hours on the Champs Elysées, fended off
international diplomatic incidents and given interviews to the press. So we
mounted our bikes once more and headed back out to our hotel in Neuilly. In our
room we turned on the TV and had a great view of the Tour celebratory parade up
and down the Champs Elysées. Certainly it was a better view of it than we
would have had actually down there! So we all put our feet up, Nathan sipped on
fresh orange juice and Vernon and I sipped on some good red wine. We relaxed
and chatted about our experiences of the day. We all agreed that the Randonnée
itself was a truly marvellous experience, over all too soon. If we ever get the
chance to do another Tour Randonnée again we will. Perhaps there'll be one in
the centenary Tour, as opposed to the centenary year of the Tour, as there was
a break for a couple of major wars in Europe back in the twentieth century.
Watching the final stage of the Tour itself on the Champs Elysées was a mixed
experience for us. Both Vernon and Nathan said they wished they could have had
a better view and were a bit disappointed they didn't. I have to say, on that
score I didn't expect to see a lot, as I knew how big the crowds would be. For
me, it was an atmospheric experience more than a great visual, able to see it
all, experience. I was distinctly uncomfortable by the occasional bad sort in
the crowd, and the man standing on the wheel rims of Nathan's bike annoyed me.
Overall, though, the experience was tremendous and I am very glad I had the
opportunity to take part in everything on the day. I wouldn't have missed it
for anything.

To be continued…

~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*o l*$*.*$$c$om*$
by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~
  #2  
Old September 4th 03, 11:03 PM
Victor M. Martinez
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Thanks for sharing, it's great you guys enjoyed your vacation so much. But
now I'm feeling really sad and missing Paris very much. I have to find a way
to move there!!!

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

  #3  
Old September 5th 03, 07:00 AM
wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX
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Thanks for sharing, it's great you guys enjoyed your vacation so much. But
now I'm feeling really sad and missing Paris very much. I have to find a way
to move there!!!


Thanks Victor - have a holiday in Paris if you get the chance. It is a lovely
city.

Cheers, helen s


~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*o l*$*.*$$c$om*$
by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~
  #5  
Old September 5th 03, 11:39 AM
polonca12000
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I'm so glad you had such a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing it with us, I
feel almost as if I were there myself.
Best wishes,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX" wrote in message
...
Once rested and refreshed, Vernon, Nathan and I set off by foot, pushing

our
bikes through the Parc du Champ de Mars and underneath the Tour Eiffel,

which
was packed with crowds trying to go up the tower itself. snip



  #6  
Old September 5th 03, 06:22 PM
Marina
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What an exciting trip you had, Helen. I can just see the sea of yellow
jerseys on wheels. Congrats on charming the Big Cheese and everyone else you
met. Nathan should be proud, not ashamed of you. ;o)

--
Marina

  #7  
Old September 5th 03, 08:40 PM
wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX
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Default

What an exciting trip you had, Helen. I can just see the sea of yellow
jerseys on wheels. Congrats on charming the Big Cheese and everyone else you
met. Nathan should be proud, not ashamed of you. ;o)


Thanks, Marina. As for Nathan, I've already told him that it's part of the
parental job description to embarass offspring in public ;-)

Cheers, helen s


~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*o l*$*.*$$c$om*$
by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~
  #8  
Old September 5th 03, 08:41 PM
wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX
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Default

Fabulous report!!!

Lisa


Thanks Lisa. I just hope that the Tour can come to London in a few years and
that there'll be a randonee then too!

Cheers, helen s


~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*o l*$*.*$$c$om*$
by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~
  #9  
Old September 5th 03, 11:24 PM
SUQKRT
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Thanks Helen it was great reading about your onece in a lifetime experience in
Paris.
Suz
Iron Chef Macmoosette
Thank Heavens There's Only One
=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=

Chocolate heals all wounds.
  #10  
Old September 5th 03, 11:26 PM
Tanada
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wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX wrote:

Watching the final stage of the Tour itself on the Champs Elysées was a mixed
experience for us. Both Vernon and Nathan said they wished they could have had
a better view and were a bit disappointed they didn't. I have to say, on that
score I didn't expect to see a lot, as I knew how big the crowds would be. For
me, it was an atmospheric experience more than a great visual, able to see it
all, experience. I was distinctly uncomfortable by the occasional bad sort in
the crowd, and the man standing on the wheel rims of Nathan's bike annoyed me.
Overall, though, the experience was tremendous and I am very glad I had the
opportunity to take part in everything on the day. I wouldn't have missed it
for anything.

To be continued…



Helen, that was totally awesome. Thanks for the trip report. We're
eagerly awaiting the rest of your story about your vacation.


Pam S.
 




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