Weekend in Paris...

Friday, July 19 will be remembered as one of those crazy K & m adventures. With all of my concern being paid to ensuring we got to Alpe d'Huez on time, I paid much less concern to leaving Alpe d'Huez on Friday. K had done his research into the bus schedules online in advance to the best that he could, but there is no accounting for the disruption that Le Tour causes (especially when trying to pre-plan from outside the local area).

We left the condo mid-morning and headed to what we thought was the bus station on the mountain (which had been closed since we arrived on Wednesday so we couldn't get more updated information on transportation). When we got there, it was clearly closed with a sign (possibly) indicating that it had been moved to a different location. K went to check it out, but got no further information there either because that office was also closed. Our shuttle bus driver gave us a bus timetable though, and based on what she and the schedule said, it looked like there was (possibly) a much later bus leaving late in the afternoon IF service was actually running as scheduled...and, that was a big if. And, it was also unclear if that bus would actually take us all the way back to Grenoble, and if so, it would be a super tight connection to catch our evening train to Paris. We also knew there would be traffic on the roads due to the Tour route for the day's stage, which started in Bourg d' Oisans located at the base of the mountain. There was so much uncertainty, so we were left stressed trying to figure out what to do to ensure we had the best possible chance of making our train to Paris from Grenoble.

After weighing our limited options (wait until late afternoon for a bus that may or may not arrive and may or may not get us to Grenoble in time; try to hitch a ride down the mountain; try to call a taxi which may or may not be possible in the remote mountain area and would surely be expensive; or walk down the mountain to the bus station at Bourg d'Oisans), we decided to take our fate in our own hands and walk to the bus station in Bourg d'Oisans, where K was fairly certain that we could catch an afternoon bus that should get us back to Grenoble barring major traffic. Yes, you read that right, we WALKED down Alpe d'Huez from the bus station there to the bus station at the base of the mountain...carrying all of our luggage - me with 30-pounds of gear on my backpack and shoulder bag and K with his wheeled suitcase and duffel...in the rain at times no less. We saw all 21 of those switchbacks up close and personal! K estimates that we walked about 8 miles. I had to go into marathon mode and just keep putting one foot in front of the other because it was brutal at times. Thankfully, I was in shorts and running shoes, but my toenails did not enjoy the constant downhill for hours and jamming into the front of my shoes. Unfortunately, I was in a tank top, which did not give my shoulders much protection from the straps of everything I had on my shoulders and ended up rubbing them raw. I would't be surprised if it left a scar. Once we had committed though, I knew we would make it down because really what other choice did we have at that point? I was just worried about the condition we'd be in once we got down.

We made it though (after a lot of brief rest stops along the way) and were relieved to see that bus service was indeed running to Grenoble that should get us there in time for our evening train to Paris. We arrived in Paris after 10pm and just crashed at our hotel near the train station (Gare de Lyon). We were wrecked from the day's journey!

I'll admit that I have a fairly blase attitude toward Paris that the city really doesn't deserve. I think it's because it's the European city that I have been to the most, but I was pleasantly surprised by our brief weekend there this time around. We have done a lot of the main touristy sights already, and we found a few things to do that we hadn't done yet that we really enjoyed.

After changing hotels to be in a better location on Saturday, July 20, we headed over to the Musee d' Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris Museum of Modern Art) located across the river from the Eiffel Tower. I don't know why I haven't been there before! I highly recommend a stop there, and I think I actually preferred it to Centre Georges Pompidou which also boasts a fine modern art collection. Maybe what put it over the top for me though is the featured exhibition they were having for Keith Haring, one of my favorite artists. 

After a couple of hours there, we headed over to Eglise St-Sulpice to see the obelisk featured in The Da Vinci Code (the church also features a couple of frescoes by Delacroix). We were blown away by the size of this church practically hidden away in a classic Parisian neighborhood and the beauty of its Baroque style. Again, I highly recommend a stop here!

Then, we made a quick stop at Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Seine and is famously covered with padlocks that couples attach to the bridge before throwing the key in the river. Apparently, the locks are routinely cut off by the local gendarme though, so I'm sure ours will be long gone when we make it back there to see it again. And, K didn't want to pollute the river by throwing our key in either.

After a quick photo stop at the Louvre, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night. We were definitely feeling the effects of our previous day's journey off the Alpe and had another long day ahead of us.

Our first stop on the morning of Sunday, July 21 was to pick up our VIP passes for the grandstands for the finale of Le Tour that evening. While there, we noticed that preparations were already being made for the race route to circle the Arc de Triomphe for the first time in the race's history (the riders typically stop short of the Arc and make a u-turn on the Champs-Elysees for the final laps). People were already staking out their spots at 10am, which made me thankful that we weren't in that position (lesson learned after our first year watching this stage and being in that position).

We spent part of the afternoon at Musee Rodin - again, another museum that we somehow hadn't been to before and really enjoyed! We opted to only tour the gardens though for the sake of time (and money), so I'm sure we'll be back to tour the museum's interior at some point. The gardens were beautiful and featured many of Rodin's well-known sculptures. There's a nice little cafe in the gardens, which made a perfect gelato stop as we wandered around. 

The Thinker...

View of the museum from the back of the garden:

Les Invalides is nearby:

The Gates of Hell:

We then made a quick walk through Les Invalides, but had to save a lengthier visit to see Napoleon's tomb and other sights for another time.

And, with that, it was back to the Champs to settle in for an evening of Tour fesitivites. 

This is the third time that we have seen the Tour's final stage in Paris. And, I was reminded that this is a really difficult stage to see and enjoy in some respects. First, the boulevard is lined with poles and trees, which makes it so hard to get a good view of the peloton until they are right in front of you. Even with the grandstand seating it is still difficult for me to get a good view then because of the other spectators blocking my view. I wanted to attend this stage in particular this year though because I knew there would be a special celebration for Le Tour's 100th anniversary. But, note to self, in the future, remember that viewing this stage presents certain challenges.

The maillot jaune, Froome, on the first lap of the Champs escorted by the Sky boys:

Sagan in the green jersey at the front and Quintana in polka-dots in the middle:

Turned out not to be Cav's day when all was said and done:

Froome thanking his teammates and about to get mobbed by the photographers after the finish:

Jens stopped and sat on the barrier after the finish to reflect on, possibly, his final Tour:

Geraint Thomas, one of the Sky workhorses, finished the Tour riding with a broken pelvis:

Froome and other Tour legends receive the maillot jaune to celebrate the Tour's 100th anniversary:

Jersey winners: Quintana, Froome, Sagan

And, with that, the 100th edition of the Tour was in the books and so was our time in France. Next up is a week in Italy!