Tour de France

July 26th--We spent a good part of this morning mapping out our game plan for the Tour de France. Once we figured out the route and the time they would be coming into the city, we left the apartment to go eat lunch. We decided on the pizzeria right by our apartment because it would be fast and we would be able to avoid the crowds. After lunch, we made our way down to the Louvre area. We had pretty much decided that we would stay off the Champs-Elysees due to the crowds. We walked up Rue de Rivoli to Rue des Pyramides, the street right in the middle of Tuileries Garden. After walking around for a little while trying to find a spot, we finally decided on a spot where we could see the bikers come across the bridge, Pont Royal and go down the hill into the tunnel under Tuileries Garden. This was a great spot also because they would make 8 laps around and we would be able to see them. I was so determined to have a good view that I stood in the same spot for over 2 hours. I got there about 2:20 and the bikers finally came about 4:30. I was actually highly entertained though because there was a pre-parade type event. The sponsors had there own floats that came by playing lots of music and dancing. While I waited, Mike walked up toward the Champs-Elysees to take pictures. Brent, Shanda, and the kids played in the gardens. About 4:30, everyone was standing by me and the race came through. It happened so fast that it was a good thing they came back around 8 more times. We had a lot of fun cheering, taking pictures, and trying to figure out where Lance Armstrong was located in the pack. They would come by so fast that it was really hard to focus on an individual, but we finally found him about halfway into the 8 laps. It was at this time that Brent and Shanda took all girls back to the apartment with them. Mike, Austin and I stayed until the race was completely over. We weren't sure if it was over until we saw the camera crew packing up. We figured that was a pretty good indication. It was about 6:00 at this time and we made our way back to the apartment while fighting the crowds. The crowds didn't bother me though because I was so excited from the experience we just had. It is up there on my best sporting event list...probably at the top. It was just so incredible how I've grown up always knowing about the Tour de France, but never would have imagined I'd actually see it live. We arrived back at the apartment to get the kids ready for another babysitter. The day just kept getting better with another adult night out. We went to eat dinner at La Coupole. It was another recommendation and near our apartment. When we first walked in, we almost didn't stay because of the atmosphere. It looked like a cross between Luby's and a cruise ship dining room, but then we saw some of the food and it looked wonderful. It was definitely a French dinner experience. Mike ordered escargot and I had a shrimp dish with Ratatouille. We all had wonderful French food, service and conversation for our last night with Brent and Shanda.