Le Tour, something I noticed

[olbod]

In the first stage it was quite noticable that there were no telegraph poles alongside the roads.
Last night it dawned on me when they were going thu the towns and villages that there were no tv antenna's visible on the buildings and houses ? There were dishes on most of the motor homes lining the route but those were all I could see.
I dont know if it was just that part of the country, I will keep looking as the race goes on.

Always regretted that i never visited France because my paternal Granny was a Parisian girl.
Beautiful woman, she taught me to spell Australia when I was three year old. I have fond memories.
She was hit and killed by a truck when she was coming to visit on my seventeenth birthday.

[incisor]

there is a reason it's cheap as chips over there :p

[Redback]

You do realise the first part of the Le tour was in Britian and Ireland

Oh and you didn't miss anything not going to Paris, dirty town with rude people!!

[bee utey]

Lack of telegraph poles probably means they have a functioning optic fibre based NBN. In any case in snow country you bury every service well below the surface. I remember Mother telling me how deeply they had to bury the water pipe to the house they built in Germany back in the 50's.

[Dougal]

You do realise the first part of the Le tour was in Britian and Ireland

Oh and you didn't miss anything not going to Paris, dirty town with rude people!!

But they have the ugliest TV aerial in the whole of the world.:D

I didn't find Paris interesting at all. Prague however, that is a beautiful city.

Sorry to hear about your Granny. That's a rough way to go.

[Homestar]

The biggest thing I noticed is that a push bike race is as exciting as synchronised swimming.

[Ausfree]

The biggest thing I noticed is that a push bike race is as exciting as synchronised swimming.
or golf!!!!

[bee utey]

The biggest thing I noticed is that a push bike race is as exciting as synchronised swimming.
Or any sport you don't follow. To find any sport interesting you first have to know enough about the teams and players to appreciate what you're seeing. And monster truck racing doesn't qualify as a "sport".:cool:

[vnx205]

The biggest thing I noticed is that a push bike race is as exciting as synchronised swimming.

Surely you would have to admit that the scenery in the background of the TDF is a lot more interesting and varied than the background of televised synchronised swimming. :D

I don't know enough about the riders, the teams, the rules or the tactics to appreciate the racing, but I find some of the scenery spectacular.

[Slunnie]

Surely you would have to admit that the scenery in the background of the TDF is a lot more interesting and varied than the background of televised synchronised swimming. :D

I don't know enough about the riders, the teams, the rules or the tactics to appreciate the racing, but I find some of the scenery spectacular.
I like the race, but it is a stunning area, even the first 2 stages in England. I'm sure it does a lot for tourism there.

[Homestar]

Or any sport you don't follow. To find any sport interesting you first have to know enough about the teams and players to appreciate what you're seeing. And monster truck racing doesn't qualify as a "sport".:cool:

Agreed about monster truck racing...

I do understand cycling, and I was a very keen cyclist for many years. Just because I don't like watching it, doesn't mean I don't understand it. There are other sports I also like participating in that I can't stand to watch...

[worane]

The swimmers bodies are usually nicer to look at than the cyclists are!

[bee utey]

The swimmers bodies are usually nicer to look at than the cyclists are!
You're ignoring half the population again! My venerable mother, the dear old lecher, loves watching the cycling and the footy precisely because of the way they dress.:p

[Kev the Fridgy]

Or any sport you don't follow. To find any sport interesting you first have to know enough about the teams and players to appreciate what you're seeing. And monster truck racing doesn't qualify as a "sport".:cool:



Maybe not sport in the true sense of the word but it is entertaining, credit where it's due, the yanks do "Stadium Entertainment" quite well

[shining]

We have had wonderful times in Paris, and the people are fine considering that their home spends a lot of the year smothered in tourists. In the countryside the people are like rural folk everywhere friendly and welcoming.

[olbod]

Surely you would have to admit that the scenery in the background of the TDF is a lot more interesting and varied than the background of televised synchronised swimming. :D

I don't know enough about the riders, the teams, the rules or the tactics to appreciate the racing, but I find some of the scenery spectacular.

That is exactly why I watch it every year. I wouldn't have a clue who won last year and Le Tour is the only bike race that I watch.
I enjoy watching the riders because I admire their dedication and mental strength to endure what they go thru. Some of them come horrific gutsa's and get back up again and cry if they have to abandon.
I remember a couple of years ago when a car swerved to miss a tree and sideswiped a rider who then sideswiped another bloke who went off the road and was up side down in a barbed wire fence.
Battered and bruised, bandaged from head to toe but he kept going and was back again the following year.

The main attraction tho is the beautiful changing scenery and the history.
Abby's, churches and buildings a thousand odd year old and still occupied.
Then we have the remains of forts and stuff perched on top of mountains that guarded the approach to this and that.
Sheesh.
Imagine the job of building those things way back when and think about the people that lived in that enviroment and what their daily lives must have been like.
It is so unlike what we have here and I find it absorbing.

[p38arover]

I'm going to Paris on our Euro trip but I only want to see the Eiffel Tower and, at Musée des arts et métiers, Cugnot's steam tractor, Bleriot's Avion, etc.

I prefer engineering over the arts.

[vnx205]

You might have enjoyed a display along the Champs Elysees back in 2008.

It was a celebration of France's contribution to the history of flight and included a very primitive helicopter.

EDIT: Found photo of it.

[solmanic]

I'm going to Paris on our Euro trip but I only want to see the Eiffel Tower and, at Musée des arts et métiers, Cugnot's steam tractor, Bleriot's Avion, etc.

I prefer engineering over the arts.

Do the catacombs tour.

Oh, and if you want to avoid locals being rude to you, make an effort to learn a bit of French and smile... and make sure they know you're NOT American or English.

[BMKal]

Do the catacombs tour.

Oh, and if you want to avoid locals being rude to you, make an effort to learn a bit of French and smile... and make sure they know you're NOT American or English.

That works well in China too. Surprising the change in attitude of many of the locals when they worked out that I was Australian........... :D

And yes - learning and using a few common terms, particularly "thank you" - makes a hell of a difference wherever you travel. ;)

[vnx205]

Do the catacombs tour.

Oh, and if you want to avoid locals being rude to you, make an effort to learn a bit of French and smile... and make sure they know you're NOT American or English.

We were assured by our tour guide that it isn't the French who are arrogant; it is only Parisians who are arrogant and that other Frenchmen will tell you the same.

He also assured us that all it took was a token effort on your part to address them in French and that they would then be quite ready to help you. Our experience bore that out. All we needed to say was, "Bonjour" and they then were very helpful and courteous.

[Ferret]

We were assured by our tour guide that it isn't the French who are arrogant; it is only Parisians who are arrogant and that other Frenchmen will tell you the same.

He also assured us that all it took was a token effort on your part to address them in French and that they would then be quite ready to help you. Our experience bore that out. All we needed to say was, "Bonjour" and they then were very helpful and courteous.

I was having trouble with my credit card at the check out of a provincial French super market just recently. The check out girl was trying to explain something to me, in french of course. I asked in french if she could speak English, to which she politely replied in French "no I can't". I would have though nothing more of it since I don't speak somebody else's language very well either.

However, some french guy standing directly behind me in the check out line just could not help himself and leaned across to me and said very bluntly in English "you do not ask a Frenchman to speak English when he is in France".

Arrogance? Yes, particularly when he declined to provide any further assistance in the matter between me and the check out girl.

[solmanic]

The classic insult a French person can give you is to say, in English, "your French is very good". This translates to "your French is ****". If I ever get that "compliment" I just politely reply in French that their English is better. (Mais, votre anglais est superbe) This is usually followed by laughter and a total change in attitude.

Yes, I agree. Parisians are generally tougher to crack a smile than people in the provinces.

[sheerluck]

I was having trouble with my credit card at the check out of a provincial French super market just recently. The check out girl was trying to explain something to me, in french of course. I asked in french is she could speak English, to which she politely replied in French "no I can't". I would have though nothing more of it since I don't speak somebody else's language very well either.

However, some french guy standing directly behind me in the check out line just could not help himself and leaned across to me and said very bluntly in English "you do not ask a Frenchman to speak English when he is in France".

Arrogance? Yes, particularly when he declined to provide any further assistance in the matter between me and the check out girl.

I worked in Paris for a short while, and have visited The country more times than I can remember, but there was one occasion that sticks out in my mind.

I was in a small French village, on holiday with my wife, 2 kids and my in-laws. My mother-in-law announced she needed cigarettes, so as a staunch anti-smoker, I refused to go into the little Tabac, telling her she was on her own buying them.

Ten minutes later she (and my wife) came out and asked for help, as the guy behind the counter couldn't understand them.

I went in and explained to him (my French was pretty good), that "the mad old woman wants English style cigarettes, do you have any?". He laughed, and his parting words to me (in French) were "it's good to come to France and speak French, isn't it?"

[DiscoMick]

The scenery is great, isn't it. The last two days in the mountains have been stunning.
Oh, there are no sat dishes or telephone poles because it is all cable laid in the ground in trenches, which is more reliable, particularly in bad weather. One day Australia might catch up.