Sunday afternoon was spent at Champs-Élysées (Arc de Triomphe) for the final leg of the Tour de France! Christina, Sarah, Mercedes, and I left the Fiap around 2 pm, but Champs-Élysées was crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with tourists. Ample sponsored merchandise (i.e. plastic flags, giant hands) was given away for free. We managed to find seating outside of a nearby café and had frozen dessert to pass away the time. ☕️
The display started with an entertaining parade of oversized inflatable balloons that parodied the international bikers. Soon enough, the horns/honks/sirens of the French motorcycles signaled the arrival of the cyclists. The area in general was ridiculous due to the intense heat waves emitted by the sun, the constant aerial onslaught of avian feces, and the smelly body odor exuded from the filthy tourist crowd closest to the barricades. We were practically forced to keep our hands up in the air and tiptoe nonstop for twenty-minute intervals at a time to even get a glimpse of the action. Nonetheless, we finally saw the cycling champs—in the flesh—pedal to the finish line in a blurred frenzy. 🚴
oh my gosh! that's so awesome that you got to see the tour de france! or at least part of it! :) sounds like your adventure in paris was SUPER fun! :P
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