Free Stuff and Cool Bikes

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!

Monaco-Ville and the Panorama

The original part of Monaco, known as Monaco-Ville, is situated on top of a hill overlooking the rest of the city. The walk to the top is not too bad, as there are some stairs, as well as many places to sit along the way for those who need the break. From the top, there are excellent views of the city and the harbor (though on this particular day there sky was filled with thin, dark, smoke-like clouds),

as well as the mountains that surround the city. The westernmost ward of the city-state, seen here, is called Fontvieille.

As soon as you reach the top of the hill, you arrive in a large square, which lies in front of the Prince's Palace. After the casino in Monte Carlo, this relatively new-looking palace is probably the next biggest attraction.

A guard stands watch over the palace. Unlike in Britain, these guards are allowed to move. They mostly just follow a pattern in their marching, but occasionally retreat into their post for some shade.

The palace and the square are a kind of gateway into the old town of Monaco-Ville, whose streets are old-fashioned and colorful.

You'd find that in the areas on the perimeter of Monaco, the architecture is like this, while at sea level, in the heart of the city, the architecture is definitely modern and industrial, as we saw in yesterday's post. In Monaco-Ville were many souvenir shops (which at this time were selling a lot of Tour de France merchandise), snack bars, and restaurants.

One of the highlights in Monaco-Ville was a really elegant chapel that I believe the Prince goes to.

The lighting, statues, and relics were - to put it shortly - beautiful. This style contrasts with the more grandiose large churches that are the more popular tourist destinations all across Europe. The churches and their architecture are awe-inspiring, but this chapel was more elegant, and (again) more beautiful.

Oh, I forgot to mention something yesterday. You may have heard of the Monaco Grand Prix, which is a Formula 1 race held in the streets of Monaco every year (the same streets that regular people drive on, not a racetrack!). The streets that makeup the circuit have those red and white stripes that you commonly see on these racing circuits, like over here on this really sharp turn.

Well, that's all I have to report from the small amount of time we spent roaming around the city before the race started. Tomorrow, scenes from Stage 1 of the Tour de France!

Monaco, Part 1: Monte Carlo

Here begins what I expect to be a five to six-day series of posts on our visit to Monaco and Nice this weekend.

We arrived by train, first taking the Italian regional train, then transferring to the French regional train. The French trains are already nice to begin with, but we were even more shocked by how unnecessarily nice the station in Monaco was.

Welcome to Monaco! In addition to being the most densely-populated country in the world, it is also one of the richest, with around 85% of its population being classified as "wealthy." I guess they have enough money, if even just from tourism alone, to make everything as nice as possible.

A common misconception is that "Monaco" and "Monte Carlo" are the same, or that the country of Monaco consists of a single city called Monte Carlo. I have at some point believed both of these, which are in fact not the real case. The country and the city are both called Monaco, while Monte Carlo is merely a ward (i.e. district), of which the country has ten.

Monaco is widely known for its dense industrial development, and the harmony between the buildings and their environment, which consists of a small shoreline surrounded by hills. (Views of the whole city to come in the next post!)

At the heart of the country is the harbor, which separates the new, industrial ward of Monte Carlo from the old, royal ward of Monaco-Ville.

One of Monaco's most famous attractions, and probably one of its greatest sources of income, is its casino.

In front of the casino is a beautiful garden by the seaside, which is actually also the roof for the hotel portion of the casino! I bet these rooms cost a fortune.

On the other side of the casino, an excellent view of the hills in the back of the city.

The Tour de France kicked off from Monaco on Saturday, July 4, and these signs were found all around the city. A ton of people from all over the world showed up to see Stage 1, which I will also highlight in a few days.

Here's a preview of what the crowd was like, close to the finish line of the course.

Needless to say, I was quite excited to be celebrating Independence Day by cheering on in particular the seven US riders in the Tour de France! You may have heard of one of them... Mr. Lance Armstrong, who was come out of a three-year retirement to ride without salary and promote his cause of cancer research.

Near the starting line - some of the official Tour de France cars that travel with the riders through the course of the race. Also my new desktop picture!

Tomorrow and Wednesday: Monaco-Ville (the old city) and views from the hill, and scenes from Stage 1 of the Tour de France!

Monaco & Nice

Hi all, it's almost 12:30 AM and we have just gotten back from a long but exciting weekend trip to Monaco and Nice.  I'm a little exhausted, so I'll start blogging tomorrow about all the exciting things we saw there.  Until then!

Le Tour de France, Demain!

Le jour de l'indépendence américaine... et commence le Tour de France!

Tomorrow begins a 3-week event that is definitely one of my favorite times of the year - the Tour de France! Over the course of the next 23 days, 180 riders will be making a 2,141 mile journey through France and its surroundings.

Unlike other racing sports like running or swimming, success in cycling depends just as much on tactics and teamwork as it does on physical fitness. Even Lance Armstrong could not have won without having carefully planned a strategy over the course of the 21 stages, nor could he have won without the dedication and support of his teammates. I will not delve too deeply here into the intricate strategies associated with a race as long as this, since it would take me hours to explain.

Even putting strategy aside, there's no doubt that the race is majestic - majestic enough for millions of people to come see the race each year. Even when the riders travel at a "casual pace," the Tour organizers make sure the route takes them through breathtaking scenery. (I should add that a "casual pace" for these professionals is done for tactical purposes and is still actually very fast - perhaps from 20-25 mph. )

Even on days where the whole pack stays together, you can hope for a bunch sprint at the finish, where sprinters can go over 50 mph, traveling within inches of each other!

On other days, the Tour takes riders through the mountains, which feature climbs that can go over a mile high. And in most cases, this means they need to go back down afterwards! There's no break for these riders, who must go through dangerous, technical descents at speeds exceeding 65 mph, immediately after these large climbs.

These stages are where the top contenders like to make their move on their opponents to gain some valuable time. As you can see in this photo, the roads aren't gated off so much on the ascents, which make the atmosphere quite chaotic. One in a while, you may see one of those crazy fans wrapped in a flag and running up the slope with their favorite riders.

Every year, the Tour ends with a traditionally ceremonial "march" to Paris (where I'm also hoping to watch the race) and 10 laps around the Champs-Elysees, which culminates in arguably the most prestigious sprint in all of cycling.

Tomorrow is Stage 1, which is actually entirely in Monaco. The Tour starts each year with a short time trial to make some preliminary standings. This year's course is 9.6 miles long, so it should take the best time trial riders less than 20 minutes to complete. The course starts off on the famous racetrack that runs through the streets of Monte Carlo and is used for an F1 race, before traveling through some hills around town and coming back.

Because the stage is a time trial, we'll get to see riders one at a time, instead of in a peloton, which is the term for a large pack of cyclists that ride near each other for aerodynamic advantage. The major advantage of watching a time trial, in addition to getting to see all your favorite cyclists one at a time, is seeing all of the sweet time trial bikes!

Because riders can't draft behind others, specially-designed bikes are used for time trials, where everything - the bike's frame, wheels, the rider's suit, helmet, shoe covers, and even the water bottle! - is all about aerodynamics. On the straightaways, the rider also adopts a position that sacrifices steering control and balance for... guess what... improved aerodynamics.

Once again, in the time trials, it's all about aerodynamics. These bikes are not allowed, nor are they desirable, in the longer, group stages. The bikes there are more about being light and comfortable, since riders can draft behind others, nullifying the need for aerodynamics.

Monaco is expecting 150,000 people to come watch Stage 1, as well as the sendoff for Stage 2. Wow, this is crazy, especially considering the fact that Monaco is only 3/4 of a square mile in area! We will be leaving Monaco during the middle of Stage 1 and head over to Nice, in France. Stage 2 is a relatively flat stage that travels 116 miles westward along the southern part of France, and it will pass through Nice along the way, where I hope to catch a sight of the peloton as it passes by for about 10 seconds.

The internet situation tomorrow is uncertain, but we'll see. I'm sure I will have tons to share about Monaco, Nice, and the Tour de France!