Magnifique!

Made it to France on Sunday, via the Netherlands and Belgium. Probably the second most important road race for cyclists happened on that day, and I was excited to check it out! It's called Paris - Roubaix, and is known by the nickname "Hell of the North." To you non-cycling enthusiasts, it probably won't be very impressive, but for those of you who follow racing, know that it was one of the coolest things I've seen.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

Near the finish, in Roubaix:

The team bus of the eventual winner, Tom Boonen:

A Boonen fan before the finish:

Unfortunately, closed roads and crazy traffic made getting to the cobbled sections too difficult, but I did manage a great spot at the velodrome to watch the finish. As you can see, young and old come out to support the racers:

That's a huge tv in the back, with coverage of the race before they reached the velodrome:

Tom Boonen entering the velodrome:

Filippo Pozzato, who finished second:

Thor Hushovd, Leif Hoste, and Johan Van Summern, who finished third through fifth:

I saw Thor Hushovd after the race, by the way. He was standing about five feet from me. Mmmmm.

Aengus liked it, too:

Tom Boonen, accepting his pave trophy:

Oh, and that same Boonen fan, after the victory:

It was such an awesome experience. I wish I could have seen a cobbled section in person, but at least I could watch it on the big screen.

After the race, we had the unbelievable luck of finding an awesome hotel. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, in a town called Orchies, and didn't look particularly special from the road, but once inside, it was magical.

It's a family-run hotel called Le Manoir, and the people are spectacular. The son, Philip, speaks English very well, so communicating with him was easy, but his father speaks only French. It turns out the French and Swiss juniors teams were staying in this hotel, and the restaurant had been closed so they could have their team meetings there after the race, and get a good dinner, but Philip and his father, whose name I wish I had learned, were kind enough to let Martin, Aengus and me in for a wonderful meal. Some kind of terrine with fish for the starter, and then chicken with a mushroom sauce and peas for the entree and an unbelievable cake for dessert. We sat right next to the French team - it was so cool.

Here's the restaurant, on the left:

After dinner, Philip and his father invited us into the little lounge area in the hotel for super conversation. The coaches from the Swiss team were sitting in there, enjoying a local beer, and we all spent probably two hours in there chatting in combinations of English, French, and German. It turns out that the family who runs the hotel are huge cycling fans, and the father in particular was so interested in telling me stories about his experiences. I could dig enough of my French up from college to understand him almost all of the time, and didn't have too much trouble speaking with him. He has an amazing book of photographs and autographs from probably thousands of cyclists. He has one of Erik Zabel's bicycles. Pro teams, including Milram and US Postal have stayed at his hotel. At one point, he went back into the hotel office and brought out an old wooden wheel from 1940 to show me. It was so cool hearing about and seeing everything. They made us feel so welcome. If you are ever near Orchies, and need a place to stay, please check out this hotel. Even if you are not a cycling fan, you won't regret it.

Here are a few pics of the surrounding area:

The next day, we went to Valenciennes for a tea at an outdoor cafe. It's a beautiful, beautiful city.

After leaving Valenciennes, we got lost for a few hours in the beautiful French countryside before driving back up to Muenster through southern Germany:

It was an awesome two day trip. Hope you all had a safe weekend!

Until next time...