Bonjour, Paris!

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Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097

We let ourselves sleep in til 7:30, then headed over to old town to find some breakfast at a boulangerie. We didn't need to be over to the tour area until late morning, so we explored some more, now that it was sunny. I'm glad we walked around last night, because it was a whole different feel. Both times of day were charming, but just very different. When we came to a fork in the "road" (because these were also authentically windy, bumpy and squeezy roads), we looked at the slopey one to the right, and said “Let's go that way.” It was a short but steep (14° grade) pedestrian walkway into a residential area. We wound our way back down to the retail part of town, and did a little shopping for some piece of cheap luggage. We had accumulated enough stuff (with plans for another purchase, if we could find a way to get it home) that a cheap duffel bag or some such would help. The winner was a huge, orange vinyl duffel for €50. We could fit one of the Colombian cyclists in there, though I don't know how well he'd hold up through the baggage handlers.

We went back to the flat to do a bit of spare-key tango: We gave the house key back to Marc & Marie, and they gave us the key to their basement storage area. We moved our luggage down there, so as to free up their house – they had plans to meet friends for a weekend in the mountains, and wouldn't be able to wait for us to be done lingering around the team buses. We said goodbye and a very heartfelt Merci , and headed over to the depart area. Those of you who know me, know that being sneaky is a sometime specialty of mine, so you won't be surprised to hear that we left a host gift in our room for them. We'd brought 2 boxes of Celestial Seasonings teas, since that's a local product, and a vintage jersey from the now-defunct Red Zinger Classic, then sponsored by Celestial Seasonings, which we'd found at a swap meet a week before our trip began. I'm glad we brought a gift – they were really lovely hosts.

After scouting out where the caravan was coming through and where the team buses would probably be parking, we picked out a spot on the barrier. We ended up near Garmin bus (by design), hung out our Canada flag, and waited for the riders to emerge from the bus, to go sign in. The Garmin riders seem to wait until the last minute, then go sign in and just stay there for the start. Another couple near us was trying to get an autograph from Ryder Hesjedal ( who happens to be Canadian), and between their shouts and ours, he was persuaded to come over for a photo. We were really happy about this, since he's not one of the riders known for his schmoozing with the fans. He'd had a great beginning of the stage yesterday and we commented on it, though he seemed disappointed in the overall results. He did agree to a photo with Gnorm, so there's another pro cycling bigwig that Gnorm has met! We hollered out to Tom Danielson (“Tommy D”😉 as he rode off to sign in, and we got a smile and a wave, but he needed to get to work, so no photo. I was able to catch the attention of the guy leaning against the Garmin bus, after the riders had all left for the start line. I think he's a team manager of sorts. I explained about Gnorm, and asked if he might be willing to help get Gnorm a photo with the team bus. He agreed, and Gnorm was dwarfed by the windshield, but happy to be so. We also got Gnorm a quick pose with one of the race radio motorcycles. We're making sure he gets a broad introduction to the race logistics. 😊

We made our way back to Marc & Marie's basement, redistributed luggage contents a bit, then schlepped our way over to train station. It was only 1½ blocks, but it was enough to tell me that doing this on the Paris metro was probably not a great idea.

Once on the train station, I printed our reservations, and realized that they were in 2nd class. Our passes allow us in 1st class, where available, but at the time I booked the train, only 2nd class was left. I talked to the ticket agent, and he was able to find us 2 seats in 1st class – yay! Not that we're opposed to 2nd class (since we just spent 18 days in a small campervan), but if you're allowed to travel 1st class, why not? Besides, this was a 3½ hour ride, so a little extra blogging room was welcome. We both got a good amount of writing done, and since we'd already seen so much scenery, we didn't feel too bad about not looking up from our screens very often.

Quite a lot of blogging done on the train – up to the minute! We had a bit of a challenge figuring out where we'd catch a taxi (in relation to the train station, that is – they don't seem to have signs pointing the way, like airports do). We did finally get to the right place, though, and after looking at my map, and his atlas, the driver had an idea of where to head….generally. I was following along on my iPhone, and when we were near, I looked down the block and spotted it, whereas the driver turned the other way. He was looking around for it, and I pointed out that it was back there, and this was fine, we could go from here. Well, why walk back a block, if you can just reverse back a block? Nobody was coming down this narrow one-way street, so why not?

After getting settled in, we headed out for some dinner. Somewhere around here. Maybe down that block. Hmm….let's try down that way. There's someth….oh, closed. Okay, down this way? No….

It seems that our travel agent, while getting us a pretty good rate, had gotten us a hotel in the arts/business district, which is pretty un-happening on a Saturday night. We walked far enough to find an open restaurant, which was a Corsican place. Full circle, indeed. We had a lovely dinner (if pricier than expected). Oh, and yes, I AM the travel agent…..

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Photos

Gnorm gets to sit on one of the race radio bikes!
Gnorm is the little Lego guy. I didn't catch the bigger guy's name.