Le Tour & Paris

I know this is a little late. But over the month of July, I got to realise a dream I had always wanted. Those that know me well know that I am a big cycling fan, and I love to watch the Tour de France. I know it's been racked with controversy which sadens me because it really is one of the most amazing sporting events. The endurance, scenery, passion and tactics.

This year the tour started in London with a time trial. London really did turn out an amazing show for it, after weeks of terrible weather it turned out a beautiful day. They plotted an amazing course through all the landmarks of London. Through Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben Houses of Parliament ending on the Mall. It was great to watch each cyclist go past and they go so fast. It being individual you could cheer each one. It was fantastic, for a while we sat down in Hyde park enjoying the weather and watching it on the big screen.

(A cyclist races through Hyde Park)

I really enjoyed the day. The next day they road through the county of Kent before heading to France. The next few weeks I watched the tour on the telly. It was such a shame to see it again plagued by controversity more drugs and lies. It didn't help that due to bad crashes we lost 3 Aussies.

After much talk and excitement it was time for some of my housemates and I to embark on our trip to Paris. We were all very excited and had been very much looking forward to it. Four of our six person household were going. I met the others Michelle, Tim and Chris after work on Friday at 6pm at Waterloo station. We then took the Eurostar to Paris. Michelle and I were in for a treat the boys had come prepared and treated us to a train picnic with lovely breads cheese and meats. After only two and a half hours we arrived in Central Paris. Being Australian it's such a thrill to be able to catch a train from one country to another from the centre of one capital to another.

(Michelle and I enjoy the train ride)

After arriving in Paris we checked into our hotel. Michelle and I let the boys choose the hotel and were a little uncertain after they had choosen a medievil themed hotel based on the fact it had a sauna (a sauna in the middle of summer). But to our suprise the hotel was very nice and was staffed by lovely people. that night we went out for a few drinks in Paris to celebrate our escape from London. Timmy in particular was a little excited

(Timmy was rather excited at finding his namesake hotel)

The next morning it was up to Montmartre for coffee and pastires but it being over-run with many tourists thinking the same thing we decided to escape.

(Chris in a Montmartre Cafe)

We then headed to see some of the sights, and wonder around Paris. We sat at the rear of the Louvre again eating more pastries and enjoyed some Grenadine Diablo in a cafe. Most of us had been to Paris before but we still enjoyed wandering around seeing the sights and resting our legs in the park under the Eiffel Tower. That afternoon we had a late lunch and I discovered my new favourite part of Paris there is a lovely square, with many art galleries and cafes. There were also many interesting shops and boutiques so we dabbled in some shopping.

(Pastries at the Louvre & Grenadine - life doesn't get much better)

After a siesta and a nice dinner. It was time to hit the Paris nightlife eurotrash style which is what we had all come here to do. We had a very random and strange night indeed. Starting at some bars in the Latin Quarter, we went to move onto a club for a bit of cheesy dance action. All the clubs in that area were closing up so after a Chris received a recommendation from a bouncer. We headed to a club called Queen. Well we should have known better. On our arrival I asked the others "do you think this is a gay club". Chris asked the bouncer who assured him it was a straight club. After entering the bouncer must have been having such a laugh at us. It was a gay club and a very gay one at that. Michelle and I were the only girls who were not transexuals!! Now we didn't have a problem with it.

We stayed for a little while but the music was go-damn bad bad techno which was starting to get to us. We moved on but we had a great laugh at ourselves. We headed to another bar which was pretty cool and we had a bit of a dance but it was rather strange to sit in a bar in Paris while they played Wonderwall at the end of the night. After a bit of a scuffle broke out between some French boys we decided to head to the hotel.

The next day we lazed around and enjoyed a nice lunch. The others went on a river cruise which they enjoyed however I got myself a prime spot (near some fellow Australians) on the Champs Elysees ready for the tour to roll into town. After much waiting which is made extra hard by being tired and hung over. I was delighted to see the cyclists and all the team cars & officials race past with lightening speed. They do 8 laps of the Paris circuit so I got 16 glimpses of them flying by. It was such a great atmosphere and it was always such a dream of mine to be there on the final day.


I met up with the others and we made our way straight to Gare du Nord to get the Eurostar home. It was a rather sombre affair on the train home all of us feeling a bit down to be back in the UK and all not looking forward to going to work tomorrow but it was an amazing weekend.