Tour de France Part 1 - Bordeaux

All I knew about Bordeaux was that they have good wine. I didn't research the city at all because the only reason we came was for the Tour de France. I was really glad though that we made a quick stop here. It is so cute! Really pretty architecture, cobble stone streets, great cafes and brasseries. I can't comment too much else on the city because we were in and out....had I known better I would have planned at least another day....oh well!

First off, my French sucks. I mean really it is embarrassing....and it doesn't help that I keep wanting to speak in Spanish....not like I'm good at that either! I need to get my hands on a French phrasebook....ASAP! Second, we had the best meal in about a month our first night here at La Brasserie. God it feels good to eat properly again. And thankfully our waitress spoke English so it was easier to order. I have no idea how we got through Asia ok but France is going to be difficult from a communication standpoint....yikes!

Now on to the Tour de France. I was beyond excited about being able to see this! I've wanted to see the tour since Lance came back. I worship Lance from an athlete perspective (not to mention he is totally committed to his cause). I'm not a biker but I've been a huge fan since reading his first book, It's Not About the Bike....Thanks Jen! He really is an inspiration to me in many ways. :)

I didn't know what to expect from the days events. We unfortunately haven't been following the Tour as much as I usually do since we're on the road (no TV) but I did know that the race could be huge given that Alberto Cantador and Andy Schleck were only within 8 seconds of each other.

We got to the finish line area around 1pm and people were already camped out. I'm sure some peeps had been there for hours. We still had about 4 hours to go before the riders were scheduled to finish but we decided that it was probably best to stake our spot. Luckily we got front row seats 250 meters away from the Finish Line. And then we just sat and waited. It actually wasn't too bad as sponsors drove around and gave away free stuff with music playing in the background. It was a long time to stand though!

We weren't able to see the big screen TV showing the race and since we weren't able to understand the commentators we had no idea what was going on (who was in the lead, where was Lance, Cantador and Schleck?). And we really couldn't tell when the riders were coming by because again we couldn't understand the commentators. But it really didn't matter as we could hear them coming. And it totally didn't matter that we didn't know who was in the lead because when they did come by, they were going SO FAST we couldn't recognize anyone! And they were SO CLOSE! I jumped back while taking my video because I thought I was going to bump into one of them (the last thing I wanted to do was cause a Steve Bartman incident!)

When it was over we still didn't know who won....although I suspected Mark Cavendish as I heard his name a million times. We made our way over to the Podium but we couldn't see anything. I guess Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise got on stage with Cantador as he accepted his yellow jersey. Who knew they were in town? (We later saw Tom and learned they were here for the premiere of Knight and Day.) Anyway, after the podium announcements, we walked over to the trailers where the athletes were finishing up their interviews. I just wanted to catch a glimpse of Lance. We never saw him although we did see Schleck and Cantador finish their interviews and get into their cars. Kinda cool! I guess now I know to stand by the Anti-Doping Control trailer and there's a good chance you'll see some riders.

So that's it. We saw some kick-ass riders fly by from front row seats, 250 meters from the Finish Line of one of the greatest races ever. Pretty damn good day! Can't wait for Paris!