My last night in Paris and the last night of the trip (wah!). Of course by now you all know some guy we know made history this weekend. What an incredible time we had. Last night, having €21 chocolate martinis at the Hotel Crillon with Joe, Kim and Matt...Wait!...News Alert...Kim and Matt are engaged!!! He proposed to her in San Sebastian, Spain. It's so great. I love them so much and am immensely happy for them...Anyway back at the Crillon, we're finishing up our drinks at about 2:00 am, guess who walks in? Lance and Cheryl just getting back from a night out with Chris Fowler (ESPN) and his wife. I should back up here and give some background.
Just for the travelogue, briefly, got into Paris Friday afternoon, no hotel problem this time. Had a wonderful dinner with Sally and Jerry Reed and Bianca and Tom Bellavia. Went to the time trial stage at the Tour de France in Besancon, France with several of the LAF gang. We were near the start, so I got a good video clip of Lance ripping up the pavement. That dude is fast! We heard some boos from some German fans both on the course and in the cafe toward the end of the time trial. After Lance got started, we headed to the train station. The last train to leave Besancon for Paris was at 6:30. Lance finished at about 5:40. But I bring up the booing by non-fans or by Germans because of something quite wonderful that happened on Sunday.
We met Angie and Jerry Kelly on the Champs Elysees at 8 am on Sunday. We had a great spot staked out and used some extra barricades to fence ourselves in. No outsiders allowed, please :)
We were at the top of the Champs, where the cyclists make the U-turn--they turn towards us, then down the grande boulevard. I have some fantastic photos that I'll share when I get back. But it was a long day. The cyclists don't get to the Champs until 4:30 or 5, so there is lots of, ahem, adult beverages being consumed.
In sports, there are always rivalries and sometimes quite bitter. But most of the time, sportsmanship wins rules the day. It wasn't more evident than on Sunday. As some of you may know, at the end of the ceremonies after the Tour is over, each team takes an acknowledgement lap around the Champs Elysees. At the top of the Champs, each team stops and poses for professional photographers. It's an official act by the Tour de France organizers. Well we just happened to be in the perfect position to also get photos. The USPS team photo I have is sheer perfection, if I say so myself! But for each team our group sang the song that European soccer fans sing, "Ole, Ole, Ole." Well is doesn't really work by email. But for each team, we either put in the name of their team or a rider that we liked. We sang to Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vandevelde, Stuart O'grady, etc, etc. They all loved it. They waved to us, shouted, thanked us. Christian Vandevelde even rode his bike on the sidewalk and high fived some people. The best 3 moments happened after that. First, it was Gilberto Simoni's team, Saeko. We sang our song and put in the Saeko name. They could not have been happier and more gracious. Simoni was so moved that he threw his hat into the crowd. And he KNEW we were Lance fans, with all our banners, t-shirts and flags. Next, it was the T-Mobile team, Jan Ullrich's team. Possibly Lance's top rival in the sport and the recipient of quiet criticism from Lance and others. But we sang for them and we sang with Ullrich's name. He and they loved it. It was great. It was sportsmanship. I hope the German fans that booed earlier could have seen how true fans of a gruelling sport or any sport should really behave. The best moment is when Lance came over to our group after the official photos. He saw our LAF banner, our LIVESTRONG banner, our "6" signs. He got off the bike and got in front of us for the photographers to take the picture of him with his fans. There is a picture of it in L'Equipe (I'm bringing it home).
So there was sportsmanship and fellowship. Both at the race on Sunday and at the Buddha Bar Sunday night. I met some great people from Connecticut. We're trying to get them to come visit Austin as well.
OK, so drinks at the Crillon. Lance and Cheryl came in. What a great opportunity to show him the pictures from Sunday. He liked them. Maybe I can have another profession as a photog. Well, I don't know, I really think luck had everything to do with this one.
Time running out on the computer. After all the touring, sporting, museums, sites. I'll see you soon.
Darryl
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