Besancon Le Tour Start -Wednesday
We went to the tour start around 9.30 am today and already huge crowds, could not get near the sign on area today as too many people. The area was right beside the river Doubs with the tour village (enclosed area for sponsors etc) located in a beautiful tree lined park on the rivers edge and the start on the road above the park so the area was very compressed as only really footpath areas for the crowds to view from at road level and nowhere to spread out as standing room only. The atmosphere was fabulous yet again with the presenters working the crowd and the tour caravan winding along the road throwing out their freebee items for all to enjoy but most fun was watching the children scramble for the items with big smiles on their faces as they scooped up their goodies.
We decided to watch the race from the other side of town so left the start early and wandered back to our hotel grabbing the makings of lunch on the way. Luckily we did not hang around the room for long as we only made it up the hill to the road above our hotel a few minutes before the tour riders and vehicles came whooshing by. They were certainly eager to get started as they were going very fast past the crowd who were cheering heartily for their favorites as they sped past. The excitement was over in a few minutes but hey that is the tour, you blink and you miss it but again a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all.
Now back to reality and just being tourists for a while and enjoying the slower pace of life with no real time limits with the exception of making sure we get to the Paris train on time in a few days.