First Days in Paris

So I am a douchebag, have I mentioned that before. On the Eurostar to Paris on Sunday, I had a revelation while reading the newspaper, "the TOUR DE FRANCE finishes on the Champs Elysees today!" How the hell did I forget about that? Well actually, we have no TV and I am not riding much nowadays. So I guess it isn't completely unforgivable that I forgot, right?

In any case, we caught the end of the race and watched the final laps through the city. It is pretty spectacular, this year there was racing (for the stage win) right up till the end. I cannot imagine how tired those guys must be this week - brutal.

Here is the  results summary, in case you care:
 

1.	WIGGINS B.	SKY	87h 34' 47''
2.	FROOME C.	SKY	03' 21''
3.	NIBALI V.	LIQ	06' 19''
4.	VAN DEN BROECK J.	LTB	10' 15''
5.	VAN GARDEREN T.	BMC	11' 04''
6.	ZUBELDIA H.	RNT	15' 41''
7.	EVANS C.	BMC	15' 49''

Otherwise we are doing Parisian things like eating, drinking, and walking around aimlessly. The residents of Paris have started their summer vacation exodus (ya know, they get that outstandingly sane and humane 6 weeks of vacation per year) so it is actually quiet in the neighborhood where we are staying in the 9th Arrondissement. I have never stayed in this area of the city and it is kind of fun to explore streets I have never walked down before.

I am also taking French classes from 9:00am until 3:00pm each day at Ecole PERL. I LOVE IT! I am in classes with mostly 23 year olds, but they are really sweet and fun. I am going to continue the classes once I return to London, and hopefully add some German too!

And last but absolutely not least, CONGRATULATIONS to L.I. and T.K. They got engaged in Rome right before we arrived to meet them there last weekend. T.K. proposed at the top of a hill overlooking the city, and I am sure it was horribly romantic. We were stoked to share the celebration with them!

I had to keep my mouth shut until they officially announced their engagement when they returned from their European adventure, and man that was tough. So best wishes to the gorgeous couple to the right there! I hope you are as happy as us Flying Monkeys - holy crap almost 9 years of joy and happiness (sometimes......on Tuesdays) for us.