Day 72: Tour de France Stage 1 -Monaco

Saturday, July 04, 2009
Monaco-Ville, Monaco
Jim Hand and I arrive into Monaco with narrow, steep streets weeving in and out of the town all having amazing ocean views. It looked like great sights, but tough to drive in this foreign country and admire the views at the same time. The French are not as lenient if you accidentally almost run over a pedestrian or swerve over the center line. We were a bit late getting into town and got stuck in traffic with each turn we took. As we sit in traffic hoping to find the start of the race, Jim and I desperately weigh our options on parking in an apartment building complex or in the front yard of a local Frenchman. Monaco police are independent from the rest of France as Monaco is its own country and they seem to have more of an attitude about them. We hit a stand still in traffic not moving for several minutes. I hit my wits end and try to do a U-turn in the middle of the road. The local Monaco Police officer comes running over to the car from no-where asking me what in the world I was thinking about doing? I play ignorant and apologize repeatedly, pardon, pardon monsieur, pardon... hoping to not get arrested and thrown in a Monaco Prison for being American. The officer scolds me in French and walks off in disgust. I had barely crossed the center line and had not completed a U-turn, others were doing it and I was officially introduced to the French culture.  

We eventually find a parking spot and walk through the town located the start of the time trials . It is a really pretty city with great size yachts and historic buildings everywhere. Ignorant to the culture of Monaco, I find out that this is one of the elite Rich cities in the Medeterranean.

We find a good spot right at the start of the race to catch the riders. Music is playing and announcements in French are heard all around. The Caravan is a pre-race parade for all the sponsors. They ride the course 2 hours before the race and throw out various gifts such as T-shirts, hats, jerseys and other posters. Jim and I arrive late and do not catch any of the gifts as the caravan passes us just after it finished the course lap. It is a time trial today and we buy a brochure and get information on when each rider will take off. Jim decides that he will position himself 500 feet off the start of the course catching the optimal picture of Lance as he starts going. I decide to climb a elevated center garden area and take pictures of Lance and other riders as they await on top of the ramp for the start of the race .
I climb the garden area and am met with French locals that scold me for coming up on their platform. They have been waiting there since 8AM and although there is plenty of room for all of us and I am in the back of them looking over their heads, they do their best to let myself and a couple other Americans know that they do not like Americans. The girls next to me tell me that they pushed them off the platform and told her to go back to the US. Don't you know that we don't like Americans! Aggggh, it is pretty funny and I am too excited to let their attitudes bother me. I try joking with them by asking them if I can climb up on their shoulders so I can get good pictures of the American riders. I get a small smile from them as they realize I am joking. I tell them how friendly I am with the French people that I meet in America and it seems to ease some of the tension in the air. Eventually we begin talking and they ask where I am from. I meet a couple of good people and take many great pictures of Lance at the start.
As we finish watching Lance, Jim and I decide to walk the town and catch some of the other riders while on various points of the course . Walking up the streets via old historic buildings. I was not able to find a hotel under about $400 per night and thus stayed outside the city. It is boiling hot and we find a beach and I jump in taking a quick swim to cool off. It is ok, but there are rocks on the beach instead of sand and not near as pretty as Barcelona.
We take pictures out on the course that are good. I am told that we were on TV as the Contador passed by. We are wearing our yellow shirts and full LiveStrong attire, shouting to the passing by riders. Although it is tiring dealing with the crowds of people, the excitement is incredible. Lance has the lead for a short time, but is quickly surpassed. Nevertheless, a great start after being out of the tour for 4 years.
We love watching every minute of it. The energy is great and Jim and I take lots of pictures throughout the town and stage pictures of us writing grafetti on the local French signs. As the race finishes, it is amazing how the stage comes down quickly and everyone just leaves without any real celebration or hanging out. Tired and hot from a long day, we follow their lead and head out of town without hanging out at the local restaurants or shops in Monaco.

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