Karl Stanton

Paris & Le Tour de France 2009!

Bienvenue à Paris!

I love Paris. Always have, always will. Such a beautiful old and enchanting city. I was here for only one purpose this time, Le Tour de France! I spent most of my time in the hostel cooking food, meeting other Australians and Americans who where here for the Tour as well. Since I have been here serveral times before, I wasn’t fussed about the sights, more so than saving money, eating and drinking well, and seeing the tour… but that didn’t get in the way of me having a little fun with the locals.

Everyone in the foreground (apart from the guy on the far right) were staying in the same hostel as me. Last time I was there I managed to wrangle a group of people together to head to the Sacré-Cœur to drink wine and watch the sun set. Seeing as I had such a great time doing it 3 years ago, I thought I would try and conjure up a group to do it all again.

We spent several hours drinking wine, eating cheese and discussing where we were from in Australia or America and life in general. Always good times spent on those steps, well, apart from the last night we were up there and we were almost robbed! Lucky 3 Australian blokes don’t take much nonsense from a lowly Parisian rat!

All of that aside, nothing could take the hype, excitement and thrill away from watching Le Tour de France live in the flesh. I am still coming to grips with the whole ordeal.

We got to the Place de la Concorde at about 12pm, ready and willing to wait the full 4.5 hours until the peloton screams by. It was already getting crowded and the streets were lined with people, also happy to sit the 4.5 hour wait. I was getting nervous at this point as I wasn’t yet willing to gamble on trying to squeeze in a spot on the Champs-Élysées, so my hostel friends went on without me while I tried to find a bank, some food, and a great spot for photos.

View Tour Nightmare in a larger map

Well, 30 minutes went by and I was on my own, playing chess on my iPhone with nobody to talk too. I figured that I couldn’t stand another 4 hours of this, so went on the mission to find my hostel companions. It was a decent 1km walk from where I was to one of the secure entrances to the Champs-Élysées, and by that time there was already litterally thousands of people storming their way around finding spots.

I knew I was screwed.

I walked towards the Arc de Triomphe, in hope to find my hostel mate (who was wearing a Le Tour de France 2009 gold shirt, like the 1000′s of others). It was shoulder-to-shoulder, step-by-step movements up the Champs-Élysées. At one point we were standing still waiting for the hordes of people to sort it out and keep moving.

I walked around the Arc de Triomphe, and back down the other side of the Champs-Élysées, this had taken an hour to walk 1km already, and as time was ticking closer, me without any sort of decent view of the street and no friends, I was getting rather annoyed with myself.

I ended up right down the other end of the Champs-Élysées, near the big monitors and finish line, when I decided to call my hostel friends one more time to see if I could get their where-a-bouts. Turns out they were on the exact opposite side of the Champs-Élysées as me, which meant I had to make some life changing decisions. 1, I walk all the way back, waste another hour and hope that by then I can squeeze to the front, or 2, try and get across the Champs-Élysées.

Some police walked by and after we both realised we don’t want to talk in our own respective languages, I managed to find out that the subway below the Champs-Élysées is my only hope. I walked into the subway, and of course, this subway doesn’t go under the street, you must ride the subway!

So, I took the subway back to Place de la Concorde, and there I was, back where I started, with little over 1 hour to get back to where my friends where.

I high-tailed it, managed to find my friends who were already 10 people deep (as you can see, and yes, that’s the Arc de Triomphe in the distance…)

We waited for another 30 minutes, however we were entertained by all the official sponsors of the Tour riding past in their floats. Lots of hilarity to be had, giant squirrels, giant cyclists, lots of off comments from the crowd and horrendous bad French breath!

The wait was over, and it was worth every second. We were watching the super giant TV of the live race coverage, and the excitement of the crowd as the peloton rode into Paris erupted. The crowd surged forward about 10 meters, and we all waited silently for the peloton to reach the Champs-Élysées. You could have closed your eyes and seen the peloton scream past, as there was a thunderous roar from the crowd following them throughout the entire 7 laps. Silence, then as they approach, cheers, screams and applause for the 5 seconds you see them, and then the roar moves up the Champs-Élysées like a mexican wave. Like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before! Incredible!

We did that 7 times, I tried my best to get close and take photos, however my wandering of the Champs-Élysées for 2 hours rendered that exercise useless, and I was just happy to be there at the end of it all.

Turns out our position was right in front of the podium, and we got to witness the top riders of our lifetime graciously accepting awards from the Tour organisers etc.

Until next year, Vive Le Tour!!!!

Rain, rain, go away…

Ah S:T Eriksplan. This is where I live. The first tall peach building, I’m somewhere around there. Shame you can’t see the miserable rain falling in this photo. I went outside to capture the essance of the Swedish summer. Nothing but rain. I think we topped 8ºc today. Boo!

This coming Friday is midsommar, and apparently it’s the biggest day on the Swedish calendar. I’ve heard countless stories of the city going crazy, but most, nej, pretty much all of my friends are leaving town to go to their parents holiday houses on the archipelago. One thing that I’m trying to understand is why the Systembolaget (the governing body of the alcohol monopoly of Sweden) is closed the night before and during the entire celebration. Thursday 7pm, no more booze until Monday 11am. What the hell! It’s a bloody public holiday. And, to further this, the employees of the Systembolaget are threatening to strike this week. It’s not as bad as I first thought, but who knows what else could go on.

Needless to say, people have already started to stock up. If it’s a beautiful weekend, people want to be in the park with a few beers and a frisbee, not kicking the doors down of the bottle shop.

So, apart from my 4 day week, I’ve actually finished booking my Europe trip coming up in 3 weeks. Above is the first image I’ve seen of Zurich. I have really no idea what to expect, but my good friends Al & Jules just returned from there and sang nothing but praises about the city and the surrounding areas. Yes, that’s the Alps you can see in the distance… a short train ride out of town and you’re amongst it. I’m looking forward to relaxing here after what is already drumming up to be a pretty big week and a bit in London.

I land July 10th and the next day I’ll be joining my good friend G at the TCR BBQ, and later that night partying it up on the Lot49 boat cruise. I can’t wait to catch up with my old breakbeat crew. I met so many great people during that period of my life, it would kill me if we didn’t keep in touch. I’m actually playing G in an online Chess battle, so we are keeping in touch, so to speak. I just wish he would let me win.

After Zurich, I will be flying to Paris to witness the final stage of Le Tour de France 2009. 7 laps of the Champs-Élysées should give me enough time to fire off some shots of the pelaton making their way to the end of what I imagine will be another tight and gruelling race. I can’t wait!

Speaking of Chess, if you have an iPhone, download the app “Chess with Friends”, install, and look me up (lynt). It’s the most addictive application on the iPhone. Constantly playing other people around the world. Keeping me occupied while I wait in line and on the train. It’s great!

I’ll report again after midsommar, bless!