I just found out that I have some software on my computer that stitches pictures together, so here's a nice panorama of Monaco from the hill at Monaco-Ville (you can click on it to make it bigger).
Anyway, let's check out Stage 1 of the Tour de France, a 15.5 km long time trial in the streets of Monaco. A couple hours before the riders pass through, the "caravan" makes its run along the course to keep the fans entertained. A bunch of cars and other vehicles representing the sponsors' companies drive by while playing music and throwing out free stuff!
We all got a good handful of souvenirs here, as well as before Stage 2 in Nice. The coolest things we got were some apparel from two of the competing teams, given out by the companies that sponsor them. Here, Fernando and I are showing off a microfiber shirt and a cycling hat from Caisse d'Epargne. Fernando was so embarrassed by his facial expression in this picture that he edited his face out. Now I'm the one looking bad, with my ugly bangs sticking out from the front of the hat.
Photo courtesy of Kristen. Oh man, Fernando...
The next day, we got some more hats from another team, Bbox Bouygues Telecom. Actually, one of their riders just won Stage 5 today, so bravo to them!
We found a spot that wasn't too crowded, at the top of a small climb, where I also purchased a LiveStrong band for €1 to support Mr. Armstrong's cause.
We thought it would give us the ideal view, but that turned out not to be the case. You can see much farther on the straightaways, but it was sunnier and more crowded. It was still a good enough spot though, and we were able to get some nice pictures. Check out the bike and the suit!
It took us a while to figure out that the riders' names were on a sign attached to the bumper of the team car trailing them.
Fortunately, we were able to identify Lance Armstrong from the great amount of cheering, which I found surprising because his reputation in France is pretty horrible. Kristen got the only decent picture of him. Look, it's Lance!
Photo by Kristen. Omg, it's Lance Armstrong!
Fernando also got some good video footage of some of the riders passing by.
Video clip courtesy of Fernando.
After a while, we left our spot to go check out the starting gate, which was crowded, but not nearly as much as I expected. It's cool! An announcer introduces each rider, and in the end a timer on the top of the gate counts down the time until they start. Then you hear the horn, and down the ramp they go!
The finish area was much more crowded, which people lining the final stretches and filling the grandstand, where a giant TV showed all the action with commentary, as it is seen on French television.
We were starting to run late, so we missed the last few riders, including the favorite to win it all, Alberto Contador, and the defending champion Carlos Sastre. Shucks... well, we needed to get to our place in Nice before the check-in desk closed. So we hopped on a completely packed train to Nice, and arrived in the city in about 20 minutes.
Next: Nice - the city, the beach, and Stage 2 of the Tour de France!
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