You'll notice that the posts on each Tour stage are coming pretty much on time, but not exactly. That's because I'm in Paris enjoying myself and trying to fit this blog in between my other pursuits.
Today I combined the two for a little bit.
In a tiny bistro/cafe in the Latin Quarter, I watched a bit of the Tour and was enthralled by the crowd that had formed to see the race. On the day after a Frenchman won a stage, the turnout was amazing.
AMAZING IN A BAD WAY!!
I'm am beside myself in trying to understand what has changed over here. Perhaps I'm expecting too much of the French, but I thought that the city of Paris ground to a halt for 21 days during the Tour de France. I was wrong.
After searching all over the city, I only found a handful of bars that had the Tour on television and in those bars I found only about half a dozen people watching.
OK, in the interest of full-disclosure, it is a school day and people have to work. But Eurosport doesn't run the Tour as a repeat and I'm not sure how prevalent Tivo is over here. SO, wouldn't you think that a three-hour lunch might happen daily for a couple weeks in July?
Me too.
I'm disappointed but will continue this experiment for a the rest of my stay.
Next few posts are about the race. If you're French, leave me a comment and tell me what's going on. If you're not French, give me your thoughts and ask me your questions.
Showing posts with label Apathy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apathy. Show all posts
19 July 2007
Today - Stage 11
At 182KM, today's Stage 11 is mostly downhill. Well, to look at elevations on a map, it is. The start in Marseille is 107KM above sea level and the finish in Montpellier is 72KM above.
Race starts at 12:45 and is expected to end between 5:08PM and 5:31PM depending on speed.
One note from my Parisian adventures yesterday. I went to no fewer than five cafes looking for the Tour on television. NOBODY had it on.
In fact, in one cafe they refused to turn the channel to Eurosport because MTV had given them the flatscreen and they had to keep the channel on MTV.
I don't know what to make of this apathy here in France, but I'll keep you up-to-date with the way Parisians see this event.
Race starts at 12:45 and is expected to end between 5:08PM and 5:31PM depending on speed.
One note from my Parisian adventures yesterday. I went to no fewer than five cafes looking for the Tour on television. NOBODY had it on.
In fact, in one cafe they refused to turn the channel to Eurosport because MTV had given them the flatscreen and they had to keep the channel on MTV.
I don't know what to make of this apathy here in France, but I'll keep you up-to-date with the way Parisians see this event.
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