Sunday, July 10, 2011

Le Tour part one: le set-up

Last Friday, the Tour de France bicycle race came perilously close to us. So close, in fact, that it ran right by the summer house of some American friends of ours. They happened to be here, so we planned a day at their place to eat, drink, and watch the spectacle.

Our little group set up at the end of the driveway. Left to right: H, J, K, Callie and Ken, and A.

H & A's house is in the middle of some fields where wheat, barley, sunflowers, or colza is grown, depending on the year. This year I think it was barley. The grain was recently harvested, leaving fields of stubble all around. The house is about a quarter mile (maybe less) down a dirt road from the paved road where the Tour would be going by.

A glimpse of our friends' house next to the field of freshly harvested barley.

We got there early because the road itself closed at noon. We spent a couple of hours eating and drinking before gathering up our lawn chairs and heading down to watch the Tour. Ken and I made Greek-style chicken wings, some carrot sticks with blue cheese dressing, and took along some wine. Other friends, K & J, brought pressed sandwiches on baguettes with grilled garden vegetables and meats along with a blueberry and peach crumble and freshly picked Sologne blueberries. We enjoyed it all!

This is a view of the (harvested) barley field from where we were sitting at the side of the road.

After the meal we took our folding chairs and headed down to the end of the driveway and set ourselves up to watch the Tour. First up was what they call the caravane, a parade of Tour sponsors that drives by tossing goodies to people on the side of the road.

10 comments:

  1. It looks like you picked a nice quite civilized spot at which to watch the tour. What fun!

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  2. Le dernier salon où l'on cause!

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  3. I just want to know if you save any of the TdF goodies fo me, being a TdF tragic......
    Leon

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  4. Walt--no can't see your followers list

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  5. You must have had so much fun watching "le tour". Callie seems to be enjoying herself too.
    I cannot see your followers list. Even though I only posted twice, I have 16 followers and I can't see my list either.

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  6. Nous causâmes longuement et même futilement en attendant le passage des coureurs !

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  7. I was hoping you might be able to post a photo of the riders with the fields in the background! I love it when they show the peloton in front of sunflowers!!!

    What a feast you had! Hooray for reasons to get together and eat!

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  8. I can picture it all so perfectly having been there recently. Glad you enjoyed yourselves and got a glimpse of the Tour.

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  9. Monday morning: No problem with your followers list. It shows in all its glory!

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  10. craig, it was fun. I would not have enjoyed being in a crowd. I'm funny like that.

    chm, et on a bien causé.

    leon, our friend H. got most of the loot, it being her place and all. I did come out with a Cofidis keychain. I'll save it for you!

    n&a, thanks. I think whatever the problem was has now been fixed.

    nadege, Callie really was a well-behaved dog. She didn't freak out or anything with all the cars going by.

    mary, sorry, there was a field of sunflowers nearby, but we weren't in a position to get photos of it.

    ginny, it was more fun than I expected!

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