We get a great night sleep at the local version of Motel 6. With no attendants and just a kiosk machine at the entrance, you insert your credit card and get a code for your room. No keys, just a code. The code expires at your checkout, no person or interaction needed. Some Etaps have a front desk in the morning, but for limited hours.
We walk across the street from our hotel to watch the Tour come through Nice and figure we will double duty it today, jumping in our car and catching the finish in Brignoles also
. As we wait for the tour, the caravan passes tossing lots of hats and other items our way. We wait for what appears like eternity after this caravan for the riders. Some imposters come cruising by acting like they are actual Tour riders and huffing and puffing, but none are very convincing. We catch some chalk from the LiveStrong caravan and decide to paint the streets. Writing our best endorsement for Lance we insert the Nike Logo with a Just Do It. It is cheesy, but the French people in Nice are much more friendly and love or passion and enthusiasm, taking pictures for us and doing their best to communicate with us in either French or English. I get carried away and chalk my face as my hands, hat and backpack are also covered in yellow. It is added fun to the entire experience. We meet one gentlemen that even offers to escort us from our parking space to the best road to Brignoles. He is so friendly and quite a change from our experiences in Monaco.
As the tour passes, it is a woosh of riders passing by at Mach speed
. Amazing, nonetheless to experience. We snap pictures in video and regular snap shot mode, trying to figure out the best way to get such fast moving objects with a point and shoot camera. It is not easy.
We jump in our car and head for the Finish line. The town of Brignoles is a cute, small town. The stores are closed, but parking is just outside town requiring us to walk through the streets to reach the finish line. There are trees covering the streets and the French architecture is cool to see. We walk a good distance on our tours and today is no different expecting that we probably walk 5 miles each day at minimum.
As we get into the town of Brignoles, we spot the LiveStrong girls. I almost forget that I covered my face with chalk earlier in the day. The kids think I am funny and the locals think I am weird and perhaps too excited about this race. The Livestrong girls load me up with lots of extra chalk hoping that I continue writing on everything
. I weave in and out of crowds trying to find the optimal location for the finish. It is not easy at the finish as there are so many people that you often have a hand lift up right in front of your view or your expected picture. We have an elevated curb that gives us enough view of the race, but not great pictures. We move down the road a bit and find a good spot. The finish happens pretty quickly and it is important to have your camera ready or you will miss everything.
As the race finishes, Jim rushes to the Astana team bus and I rush to try and see the Award ceremony. Perhaps too crowded, I fight to move anywhere. It is a hot day, I probably enjoy walking around the town better than fighting the crowds.
Jim and I meet up after play paparazzi and trying to sneak pictures of the riders. It is fun, but an exhausting day of rushing from one location to the next, dealing with closed roads, foreign streets, and a timeframe that we need to get there before the riders do. We are pretty tired at the end of the day, despite the fun. We head on from Brignoles to Marseilles in search of our next Etap hotel. Arriving in Marseilles, Etap is full, but we get a comparable hotel with a couple upgrades.
Marseilles is a real happening town with a horseshoes like shape around boats and vibrant night life. We taxi to the downtown section and get a bite to eat. Tired, we prefer to sleep over going out on the town. We head back to our hotel
Day 73 or so: Stage 2 Monaco to Brignoles
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
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2025-02-09