paris - part III

our third day in paris took us to the fabled champs-elysées. we hopped on a metro and were off to our destination. coming out of the metro station, we were greeted by the arc de triomphe, which sits at one end of the long, wide avenue (place de la concorde is at the other end).

on this day, there were no cars (not even fancy ones) allowed on the road. the road was thoroughly barricaded off on both the sides and the end. you see, this day we were to witness the finale of the tour de france.

we were there sufficiently early to be right at the barricades (the equivalent of front row seats), but it was still 10:30 in the morning and the riders weren't scheduled to arrive until 4:30 or so. as keen as we were, we weren't too keen on waiting 6 hours. instead, we took the opportunity to stroll down the street and explore the shops that lined it.

the champs-elysées is paris' most famous avenue, known for its shopping. it wasn't quite as we expected it, but it was still very nice. on this day, we had to contend with the many stands that were set up to sell tour de france merchandise, which maybe took a little away from the mystique. because of the barricades, we ended up strolling down one side and back before proceeding down the other side.

we went inside the peugeot store, which featured some concept cars for tourists to gawk at. we were more interested in the other branded stuff. at the william ashley sale in toronto, we had noticed some kitchenware designed by peugeot but never realised they had enough to fill a store! they even had pens, notebooks, ties and cufflinks. we also wandered into a massive sephora, the french beauty retailer. did you know that sephora is owned by LV? we didn't either!

we into more stores on the other (south) side of the street. for one, the LV flagship store is on this commercial stretch, although we weren't bold enough to go in. the toyota store featured a car mounted on the wall. the renault store had a massive tv that was showing the hungarian grand prix. a mass of middle aged men crammed into the store to watch all the action and cheered for...whatever there is to cheer about when watching f1 (it's a mystery to us). they also had an f1 simulation, but the queue was long enough to deter us from waiting.

our favourite store had to be ladurée, another of the top french patisseries. another friend had advised us that ladurée had the best macarons in paris. we bought the mini macarons this time and they were so colourful and cute! we also loved the packaging, which was very classic, but elegant. so the verdict? pierre hermé or ladurée? well, we're sure a case could be made for either and it probably comes down to personal preference. our vote is for ladurée. pierre hermé was good, but the ganache-quality filling was so rich it made our heads hurt a little. the filling at ladurée was quality as well, but the fruit filling in particular was quite tasty.

now on to the main event: the tour de france. after lunch, we assumed our position along the barricades. by this point, people had filled up every free spot right against the barricades so we picked a spot that gave us essentially 'second-row' seats. and then we waited. and waited. and waited some more. lucky for us, the weather was very nice and we even got a bit of a tan (to top up the tans we picked up in greece and wimbledon).

at about 3pm, there was some sign of life, and everyone bolted up in eager anticipation. it ended up being the sponsors' parade. while a fringe activity at best in north america, cycling is massively popular in europe. of course, that means it's also big money for corporate sponsors who want a piece of the media exposure. the parade gave each sponsor a share of the spotlight. some were quite demure, with only a convoy of a few branded cars honking their horns (lame). others were a bit more inventive, like vittel, the official water sponsor of the tour, who had people spraying crowds with water hoses. (they lucked out with the weather too; we doubt it would have had the same effect if it was raining)

the parade finished and, finally, after all that waiting, the real action was about to begin. we were tipped off by the helicopters flying overhead, filming the riders as they approached us. excitement rippled through the crowd that had been waiting for hours.

if you're ever going to watch the tour de france, either plan to watch multiple stages on your journey or watch in paris. only watch a single, non-paris stage if you're going to be content with waiting hours for a (super) quick glance at the riders. it may be a little better on a mountain stage where they'll slow down for the climb, but otherwise, they blow by you and are gone. we'd always known they ride fast, but we were still stunned by how fast they actually were, a literal blur of multi-colour clad riders.

the benefit of watching in paris is that the course actually takes the peloton on eight laps of the champs-elysées, meaning you get to see the riders sixteen times (one on each side). it's also kind of an interesting study on european sporting culture. i'm not sure you'd find that many sports fans in north america that would be willing to wait a whole day for but a moment's viewing. still, it was worth it, to be able to witness one of the world's great sporting events live. it was too bad lance didn't win yet another title, but he put finished in a respectable place (3rd overall).

once the race was over, the crowd disbanded, leaving the street in droves. we were thoroughly tired from standing most of the day and just wanted to find a place to sit and eat. unfortunately, a lot of shops and restaurants seemed to be closed on sundays. we finally settled on a restaurant for dinner, where we checked off a couple of more items on our list of classic French foods: escargots and crème brûlée. delightful!

after dinner, we were full and tired so we just headed back to the hotel for some rest.