Tour de France Inspiration

Our view from the couch today. 

Usually, the Tour de France begins in the heat of summer with the riders attacking the roads of France in July. This year though, the Tour was delayed until today and will run through September 20th. 

Two years ago, we tried to watch a stage of the tour in Carcassonne but failed after our B&B had bedbugs. 

A few days later, we got to watch a stage of the Tour as it came through the mountains near our home in Quillan.

Last  year, we were in the States for the summer so we enjoyed watching the TV coverage early in the mornings and commenting on places that we had visited. 

We've watched the Tour for years, enthralled by the beauty of the country that became our home. Every year we get caught up in the drama, rooting for bicyclists that we had never heard of before and suddenly we're invested in them. 

Often we end up making spontaneous decisions while caught up in the Tour, like a bike trip through Provence 19 years ago. And already, as the first stage is blurring past us on the television, we hastily booked a hotel in Paris for the end of the Tour.

For years we have wanted to be standing on the Champs-Élysées watching the cyclists whiz past on the last day of the race and then to see the winner receive his yellow winner's jersey. 

This seemed like the perfect opportunity. There aren't many tourists in Paris. The number of tourists in France always goes down in September, but now, with Covid-19, Americans and Asians are banned. Brits are facing a two-week quarantine when they return home so they aren't here. The crowds should definitely be smaller along the Champs-Élysées.  

Also, the race is in September instead of July, so the sun shouldn't be too piercing as we stand along the road for hours. 

We will have to be careful, of course, and wear a mask. But I'm picturing wandering through the Musee d'Orsay without crowds or taking an early morning run in Jardins du Luxembourg without hordes of people. 

My heart rate increases just imagining walking the streets of Paris again. I love it every time.

 I'm happy to take you all along with me.