Tuesday, 7/9

Wanna see two places we've visited multiple times in France? Then make sure you watch the Tour de France today and tomorrow.

Slowly but surely I'm getting into my July routine of watching the world's most famous bike race as it heads around France (and Belgium, this year) for the next three weeks. It always seems as if every year the race goes through or finishes in a town where Loraine and I have visited, and it's no different this year.

Especially tomorrow.

Today it finishes in the city of Nancy, where Loraine and I have twice visited. The race won't go anywhere near where we usually hang out (it's finishing on the outskirts of town), but we're looking forward to the helicopter beauty shots of the Place Stanislaus and the adjoining Parc de Pepiniere, the place long-time readers may remember as the park where Loraine was mugged by a peacock on our last visit in 2017.

Tomorrow, though, is the big day, as the race winds through the Vosges Mountains and makes its way into Colmar, a place we've visited three times, a place that, obviously, we like a lot. On its way into Colmar the races winds up & down hills and through many towns & villages along what translates into “the Wine Road”, an area on the east side of the Vosges where you see nothing vineyards and picturesque villages.

I'm sure it'll be a very pretty day on your TV.

Our friends Oliver and Marie-Rose live in that area; in fact, Loraine received an e-mail from Oliver Sunday in which he included a timetable of when the race paces through his town (Wittelsheim). In fact, the race will run down a street the next block over from where he lives, and he's planning on camping out early to get the best spot.

So if you happen to be watching the race around late this morning Eastern time and you see it going through Wittelsheim, look for Oliver. I'm sure he'll appreciate it.

                                 *******

Also tomorrow, and having nothing to do at all with the Tour de France? A couple of questions need to be answered. Those questions? Will the rain hold out? Will we get the tour in? Will Jim repurpose the newspaper article he wrote?

We'll have to see, won't we?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)