A Day with Julie and the end of the Tour

Sunday, July 21, 2013

I promised another surprise and what a great one. After being able to spend Wednesday evening with Debbie in Grenoble word came to us that Julie would be arriving in Paris from the far SW corner of France to spend some time with us. After a mis-communication and a cross-town romp Julie met us at Hotel Astrid. After hugs we proceeded to take a walk around the neighborhood. We passed the Arch de Triomphe and its huge flag then gravity pulled us to the Eiffel Tower. As we walked we learned about Julie's angelic daughter, Ava (otherwise known as "my evil baby"); Ava's happy grandparents and, of course, her husband.

We ended up having lunch in the Rue Cler neighborhood. Our waiter seemed surprised to find a French lady with a couple of older American's. After lunch we looked for the hotel we stayed in our previous time in Paris and we disappointed to find it closed.

After returning to the hotel we had a tearful goodbye and joined our group for a walk to our grandstand seats to see the end of the tour. After the terrible events at the Boston Marathon I expected some substantial security around the grandstands but there wasn't anything at all. But there was shade, and for that we were grateful. It was a scorcher. No SWAG today but we had a great view of the Jumbo-tron to watch the riders as they left Versailles and made their way to Paris. Most of the mileage today was for photo-ops of the riders congratulating Froome, the tour organizers and sponsors to get some love, and to set the stage for the finale - ten laps up & down the Champs d'Elysee. The first time the riders came around the loop I was trying to compose a photo. Just as I was about to push the trigger the arms of all of the spectators in front of us went up with their cameras/cell phones to take pictures. Couldn't see/shoot a thing. After a few loops the excitement let up and people had enough pictures. The riders went around and around, first an attempted break-away that was absorbed by the peloton, and finally, a sprint right in front of us. Great fun.

We were treated to a light show that was projected on the Arch de Triomphe and some drinks before be

d.