Day 13 Monday 7-25-2011 Final Report
Day / date / Location:
Miles on bike: Total miles for trip: 358. 97
$ toward Pledges at 0.026 per foot gained: 21,298 x 0.026 = $553.75
I’m disappointed I didn’t do more riding and climbing; But I had a great time with Tim and did some sightseeing without being wasted physically by being too macho.
Many thanks to VERSUS, Coach Paul and others; this was an incredible trip!
Highlights: Thru the eyes of Tim sharing about the day:
The Final Days
Okay, so I’ve been home for two days now, and have just been sleeping a ton and otherwise chillin out and trying to get over this jetlag. I sort of forgot about my blog, but figured I should finish it. It’s kind of OCD of me, but I just can’t leave it unfinished. So here’s the last part of our story…
Since our final day in Alp D’huez, we had two full days left to make the most of. So for our first, our tour group spent the day in Grenoble to watch the time trial stage. We had a viewing location that was 100 meters from the finish line, so we could see the riders as they came by on the final stretch. Now since it was an individual time trial, each rider would ride the course, starting with the riders in the lowest standing to highest standing by overall time; and they would each leave a couple minutes apart. Basically, the contenders for first place would be riding last.
The day went a little slow at first, since we didn’t really care about the earlier riders (not to say that they aren’t amazing athletes and important for their teams, they just weren’t in the running for the top places). It was really cool to be able to see each individual rider though, since a lot of times you don’t see as much of the individuals when they are all riding in the peloton. In addition to watching the race, we also had access to the behind the scenes area where the riders were warming up before their turn to go. I went back there about an hour before the GC contenders were set to ride, so I was able to catch a glimpse of Evans, Contador, Sanchez, and the Schleck brothers as they warmed up.
I headed back to our viewing area just as the first of the GC contenders started the course. The race pretty much came down to Cadel Evans vs. Andy Schleck. Evans was 57 seconds behind Schleck, who was in first place. Everyone was excitedly awaiting the arrival of both the riders, and we kept checking the TV to see who was ahead based on time. Amazingly, Cadel Evans blazed through the time trial, and not only made up the time difference on Schleck, but he ended up ahead by about a minute and thirty seconds! So it was basically a guarantee that he had won the tour as long as he finished the last stage in Paris. All of the Aussie fans were ecstatic, chanting “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!”
That evening, we took a bullet train from Grenoble to Paris, which is about a three-hour trip. It went by quickly though, as we were all celebrating Cadel Evans win with the Australians. Ironically, we were seated in the “quiet car,” and we were asked to be quieter (which obviously wasn’t happening for the Australians). So the party moved to the snack car, which was a party for the whole ride! When I joined the party, about an hour into the trip, I found out that the snack bar was completely out of alcohol, if that gives an indication on how much celebrating was going on.
When we finally arrived at our hotel in Paris, around midnight, we went straight to bed as my dad and I were going to get up early the next morning to explore Paris. We set out from our hotel around 8 the morning. We stopped by the Arc de Triomphe and took some pictures. Originally, we planned to walk to the Louvre, which doesn’t look so far away on a map; however, it turned out to be quite a walk since we kept getting detoured by the street closures for the Tour de France, that would be coming through that afternoon. Although it was quite a walk, we definitely got the scenic tour of Paris, going by the Grand Palace, by a lot of their government buildings, and crossing over the Seine river a couple times before we found the Louvre. I also should add that the weather was perfect that day too, so walking was totally fine.
The Louvre was pretty much the most amazing museum I’ve ever been to. You could spend days in the Louvre alone, but we only had time for about five hours. I took a lot of pictures, so I won’t describe too much in detail; but my favorites definitely had to be the French and Italian paintings. The Mona Lisa was cool to see in person, but what really impressed me was the size of some of the other paintings that were a couple stories high. After exploring most of the Louvre, my dad and I stopped for lunch at McDonalds (classy French food, of course!). We then set out to see Notre Dame, which was magnificent. Unfortunately, pictures don’t turn out so well there, since it’s so dark inside. The architecture and the stained glass windows along with the sheer size of the place just gave it this huge wow factor. After Notre Dame, my dad and I went back to our hotel, this time riding the subway, which took us all of ten minutes instead of nearly an hour. We watched the finish of the tour on TV, and saw Evans win the Tour de France.
Later that evening, we went on a dinner cruise with our Tour group, along with all the other Customs Getaways groups, since all of the tours pretty much end in Paris. The boat went up and down the Seine River, which goes right through the middle of Paris. On our way back, we were able to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up, and it was just so pretty. I definitely understand now why people love Paris! The boat cruise was a nice ending to our Tour, as we all said goodbye and most went our separate ways afterwards. However, my dad and I along with our friends Rick and Zach decided that we had to go to the Eiffel Tower, it being our first time in Paris. It was only a short walk from where our cruise was. When we got there, around 11:30, they had closed the very top viewing deck, but the middle one was still open. So we took the elevator (there is a walking option) to the middle deck. Paris was all lit up and the tower was sparkling when it hit midnight. It was spectacular.
The next morning my dad and I left for the airport pretty early to catch our flight back home. (Just a little fyi, if you are ever flying out Charles De Gaulle, you should get there like 3 hours ahead of your flight. We did 2 hours and almost missed ours). Anyways, we had a great time in France. I had way more fun than expected, and I really grew to love the Tour de France. (Granted, it is way cooler in person). Looking back, I am just so thankful for this opportunity. It’s been a trip I’ll definitely remember. I’m so glad I said yes! While I probably will be watching the Tour from my house next year, I don’t think this will be the last I’m seeing of this beautiful country. Au revoir, France, till we meet again.
