I Want to Ride My Bicycle

On the 25th of July I took a train that left before the buttcrack of dawn. Dawn wasn't really even thinking of getting up yet and I was already on a train to Paris at 5:22. The purpose of my trip was to see the last stage of the Tour de France. Even though I wasn't very thrilled to be going by myself, I knew I'd be kicking myself if I didn't go and see Lance Armstrong race. I had a friend tell me about a hotel that was close to the Arch de Triumph--I could see it out my window!!
I was only carrying a small backpack, but checked into my hotel and was off to find lunch and to find the starting point of the free walking tour of Paris. I figured if I wandered around by myself, I'd just see the sights I saw 10 years ago with my parents, and that this tour would give me some cool tidbits. I had a crepe with nutella and banana for lunch--oh la la--wandered over to Notre Dame for a bit, then back to the meeting point for the tour.

The tour was about 4 hours long, including about 30 minutes for a food break. It was a general overview of Paris, stopping by some of the common spots, but some not so common too. And the guide told some interesting stories and was pretty entertaining as well. The group consisted of mosty people in their early 20's, who were staying in hostels. That meant I felt old and rich.

The tour ended, luckily, near the Champs Elysees, and even though my feet were killing me (that's the old part) and I was dying for a good meal and a glass or two of wine (that's the rich part), I went ahead and staked out a few places some people told me were good to watch the Tour on Sunday. I found the spots I was told about and ended up walking the entire way up the Champs Elysees to the Arch de Triumph back to my hotel and didn't hitch the Metro, even though I had a day pass (that's the stubborn part I forgot to mention).

I thought about going to this place for dinner that another friend recommended, but I was so exhausted and I was starving that I took the recommendation from the front desk of a place a couple blocks from the hotel that I think was called Chez Fred. The restaurant didn't seem much of anything, but I'm really glad I went. They had a menu in English and the waiter spoke English, which was great for me (now I know what my friends feel like in Germany), but the best thing was that everyone in there was a local. I sat just inside the door at a small table with a view of the chairs set up on sidewalk. I told the waiter what sorts of wine I like (shiraz) and he chose a French wine for me. You paid by the glass and I had two. I had a steak with shallots and fried super garlicy potatoes. Everything was delicious!!
The next morning I was up pretty early, since I went to bed pretty early (old again). I stopped by the Arch, then wandered down the Champs Elysees to see how many people were actually staking out their positions on the race course. I saw a few with chairs right up on the barrier fences, but not too many, so I decided I had enough time to go see the Eiffel Tower.
After that, it was time to find where I was going to stand. At this point, it was probably close to 11 and I knew I was going to need water, which I had, and food if I was going to be standing somwehere all day waiting for the race that probably wasn't going to arrive until around 3. I went checked out the spots I was told about again, but ultimately decided on a position where the cyclist would be heading right at me out of a tunnel, up a small hill, where they would make a left. It was perfect!

I ended up standing there for close to 7 hours, but it was entirely worth it! Luckily, an American woman, who was also by herself and who was a cyclist and huge cycling fan stood next to me. So we made small talk the entire day. It would have been an even longer 7 hours had I not had someone to talk to.

When the peleton (largest group of the racers) hits Paris, they do 8 laps on a circuit. I think they finally came around to where I was standing at about 4:30. Prior to their arrival, all of the sponsors and the team buses and vehicles paraded by. But when the racers came by, it was all I could to not to bounce a little, I was so excited. Never in my life did I think I was going to see the Tour de France.

I took video or photos of every lap, so if you set it on a slide show you won't see the video. They're probably pretty boring for anyone who doesn't follow cycling, but know that it was awesome.

Team Columbia making the chase to the sprinters.Lance is on the left in the dark socks, dark glasses, and the funky-colored bike.

Lance on the left and his teammate and overall Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, is in the yellow.
Lance finished 3rd overall.

Ready to Run

I just got back from Pamplona, Spain with a group of friends. We left on the 10th and got back late Tuesday night. Pamplona is pure craziness! Kim described it as being like Mardi Gras, but she explained that Mardi Gras is just one streeet--the San Fermin festival in Pamplona is all over the city. The general schedule goes like this: party all night long, watch the bulls run at 8, sleep all day, then do it over again. We're old, though, so we didn't do that.

Maurice, Naymar, Kim, Brian, Jack, me, Dan, Luke

The place we stayed was on the top floor of a building right smack dab in the middle of the action. That meant we got no sleep, because there was singing, drums, yelling, bands, glass breaking, and a variety of other noises the entire night. But boy were those naps we all took after the bull run and in the afternoons delightful.

Everyone was wearing white and red. So to fit in, most of us had some combination of the outfit. Brian bought a neckerchief, which we termed gaykerchief, when he refused to wear it after an hour. But he did sport the waist sash. Everyone else wore the neckerchief, unless it was too blasted hot, which it was on Monday.

Honestly there wasn't much to do or see in Pamplona, unless you count the drunk people who had sangria-stained white clothing. We relaxed a lot, strolled the city, took naps, watched the crazy people and any festivities outside our window, and we drank a lot of sangria in the apartment. It was 3 euros for 1.5L.

Kim, me, Naymar

We saw the bulls run every morning, which started at 8. Saturday and Tuesday, we watched it from our balcony, Sunday and Monday from a rented balcony. The boys ran on Monday, then Maurice and Brian ran again on Tuesday. They send 6 bulls and 4-6 heifers down the course. The cows have bells on, they stay together, they're not aggressive, and they run slower. (Girls have wider hips, so of course they don't run as fast!!) They're much bigger than the bulls, which surprised me.

The boys and Jack, who was still sleeping, before they headed down to run.

It was crazy how fast they run. I think I heard that one day while we were there, one bull made the course in the fastest recorded time, like 2 minutes or something. On Sunday two men were really badly injured. One guy was jumping up on the fence to get out of the way, but was hit by the bull's horn, when the bull turned his head because he ran into the wall. The horn went up through the guy's throat/chin. The other man was gored by the bull in the chest and the leg. They had some really graphic footage on t.v. that day. You can watch Sunday's run here on YouTube--I think it's from a t.v. station. One bull gets separated, confused, and doesn't know what to do. He ends up goring a man very seriously--stabbed in the chest and leg.

After the run on Monday, I went to the stadium to watch the young bulls. Everyone gathers in the stadium after the run. They corral the bulls from the run, but then they let loose one at a time a young bull, with capped horns, and he runs around with all the idiots in the ring. I asked the woman who helped us reserve the room and the balcony if bulls are naturally aggressive, because I didn't think they were. She said they weren't and in fact they breed these bulls almost like they do pit bulls in the U.S. to fight. She said the only time the bulls see people are on horseback, so when they see people standing, their instinct is to chase and gore, if they can.

Me at the stadium

On Monday, everyone but Kim and Jack went to a bull fight. I knew I was going to have a hard time with it, but I had to keep telling myself that this is their national sport. They grow up with this and I can't say I was okay with it, but I kind of got it. They use the six bulls, which ran that morning, so we saw 6 bull fights.

The bulls starts out at a disadvantage. They release the bull and they provoke him with their capes (or whatever the official term is) for a few runs. Then they bring out the men on horses, which have armor on their bodies. The job of these men is to take the first two stabs at the bull's neck. Then the bull is provoked again, but this time they put the spike-type things in his back and we saw anywhere from 4-6, depending on how well the fighter did. After that, it's the matador's turn. He taunts the bull with the cape, he takes several runs, and then at some point he decides it's time. He exchanges the sword he has for a different one and he stabs the bull. If he does it well enough, the bull dies within minutes, and it's carried away by a team of horses. However, there were a few times that didn't happen and I had a hard time with that.

I have all of my pictures posted here. I do have to warn you that the pictures of the bull fight are a little hard to look at and some of them show blood. I had a great time with my friends and I'm really glad I went. I'm glad I got to experience it, but I'll never go back again and I won't go to another bull fight either.

My next trip is next weekend. I'm taking an early train to Paris on Saturday, so I can watch the final stage of the Tour de France roll in on Sunday. I'm hoping for some good shots of Lance and my other favorites, like George Hincapie.

Ring of Fire

This has to have been the busiest my social life has been in months. Tongeren for antiques on Sunday, barbecue and Elton John on Tuesday, a going away for two women on Thursday, and a Rhein cruise on Saturday for Independence Day.

Thursday we had a girls night for two women who are leaving to go back to the U.S. We met at Amy's for drinks, then walked downtown to an Indian place. The food was delicious and we had a ball. I had never had Indian food and I really liked it. I definitely will be going back. I haven't laughed that hard since probably the girls trip to Tongeren and it had nothing to do with our waiter's unibrow.

Kim, Booky, Chantel, Amy, Kim

Me, Debbie, Naymar, and Jen

After dinner we wanted to go to an Irish pub for karaoke, but being a Thursday, they didn't have it, so we went to a different bar....where we proceeded to order a drink based on the name--a screw up against the wall. I can't remember if it was a a slow one ;)
It was only a bonus when they showed up as a fun color. In the picture they look green, but I swear they were blue.

On Saturday, I went with a group of people on a Rhein cruise for the Rhein in flames. It includes dinner and we floated down the river and saw several fireworks shows from castles and from the vineyard hills. (You can click on the collage to see the pictures enlarged in another window.)

Crocodile Rock

Elton John was playing on the lawn in front of the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden Tuesday night. I decided over the weekend to invite people over for a cookout and then to walk down to listen to him, since it's just down the hill from my house. There were 9 people, including one newborn and one 3 year old. I cooked brats on the grill and we sat outside on my back patio. I really enjoyed having people over, especially now that I have furniture inside my house making it no longer embarrassing. I had a really good time and look forward to having people over again soon.

Justin and Melissa, who just got to Germany last week, and LukeKim holding Carrie's baby EmmaJack, Kim and Brian's son, who hated that Kim was holding a baby.Pete and KimBrian and Naymar

I tried uploading the several videos I took of the Elton John's concert that we could hear, but they're not uploading. I could hear the concert from my house and it actually sounded like he was inside my bedroom, because the sound was bouncing off the buildings behind my place. He sounded great.

Walking to the concert.

Peeping through the fence and the covers, we could see the crowd and sort of the see the jumbo screen.There he is. A little blurry, but zoomed as far as my camera would go, stretching high above the barriers just to get a shot.

Next adventure...the bulls in Spain, starting July 10th!