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Published: July 10th 2008
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Today we had the pleasure of watching the Tour de France pass through Crocq directly past Jean-François's house. The main road into, through and out of Crocq was repaved especially for the tour to pass through. Nice, black, smooth asphalt. They also decorated the street with blue and yellow crepe paper of bicycles that they attached to the village walls. We got up and watched the town slowly fill with people coming to view the race. We decided to head into the centre ville for a better view as we expected them to come through very fast and there is a curve just before the house so we wanted to be able to catch them on a more straight position. We got to the town about 11 am and the racers didn't arrive until about 2:40! Luckily, it was a nice day and we met some people to talk to. My mother made a sign that said "Hello Calgary" and the first time she held it up, a man from New Zealand came up to us and said his wife is from Calgary! This Kiwi man is living and working in Portugal with his wife. He is a rugby coach! After
that, Laura and her mother, Chantal, came by and chatted for a bit. Soon a British friend of the family's who has been living in the region for 5 years appeared and we chatted with him for a while. He loves it here and had the wherewithal (moyen - for Jean-François!) to give up his job in London and move to a friendlier and less crowded environment (jealous, jealous, jealous!!!). He is a charming man and I am going to read his blog after I am done here. As we all sat and chatted, Pascal, the butcher, came by and invited us to a BBQ in Saint Georges Nigremont (where I took the beautiful country pictures on July 6). The people in Crocq are genuinely nice and friendly people! The sun was very hot and we stood and waited and watched the "caravane" come through town. The caravane is the parade of sponsors who drive by and throw little goodies as souvenirs - key chains, caps, hats, bags, etc. We managed to grab quite a few! It was difficult to know when exactly the riders would appear but when we saw the helicopter overhead hovering we knew they were about
to arrive. We waited 3.5 hours and they passed by in 30 seconds! LOL It was exciting, though. The Tour de France is a huge event in France. After they were gone, we went to a small "auberge" (inn) and had a "sandwich jambon beurre" - a nice ham and butter sandwich on baguette - a café and une carafe d'eau (carafe of water lol). We walked back home hot and tired. It's not easy being out in the hot sun all day! I made sure to wear my sunscreen. 😊 We had a little dinner....mom had a salad and I had the last of the pâté de campagne, some cheese and bread. I could live on that! Now we are sitting around - I'm blogging and mom's reading and I think we will both be in bed very early tonight!
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Olivia (The awsome child!!)
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Miss you :-(
:( I wish we saw your sign!! Dad and I woke up real early to watch it but we never saw it!! I hope you're having fun mom I love you and miss you guys lots!!! Love you!