Want a lemonade, ask for Shit....

To much driving

Today was a lot of driving and we didn't go very far at all. Combination of very winding roads, traffic and lots to see.

From Aix en Provence this morning, we headed down to the French Riveria. Firstly, St Tropez and then along the coastline through St Raphael, Cannes and finally onto Nice.

Although we ended the day in Nice the last part of the drive was not Nice (pardon the pun).

The drive along the coastline appears to be France's version of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and absolutely stunning. Different to the GOR, there is a lot more people that inhabitant this part of the world and it is amazing how many people holiday down in this part of the world. The challenge for the day was the traffic from Cannes to Nice. Definitely not a great place to drive and a lot of stress, but we made it intact (just) and was lucky enough to find that the hotel bar has Jimmy in it, plus a Happy Hour from 6 - 8.....

Another Day Dawns

Up and at them early here, although not training today. Should be riding but still haven't got the bikes out of the box and unfortunately none of the hotels we have stayed out have been equipped with a gym. We decided pretty early on not to ride in the major cities based on the traffic and not knowing the area well enough.

Some thoughts and learnings thus far

- Don't arrive at 8pm into Paris, hire a car and then try to navigate to your hotel

- The French are not arrogant, as I had previously been led to believe, they seem very patient with our lack of local language

- The drive like maniacs over here, every car has a dent or scratch on it, including ours

- They love to congregrate in public places for a picnic/ social drink

- They love to leave their rubbish lying around at the end of their picnic/ social gathering

- Visa card don't work at toll booths and service stations

Some more general pics of things we have done and seen:

Jenga in Paris

Lost Count

Not sure what day we are onto now, as they are spinning over so quickly, but having a great time and lots to see and do. The only downside tha Re are fast working out, is that sight seeing through France for the 2 weeks leading up to a major race is not the ideal preparation. Still managing to do some exercise but definitely have not seen or touched the bike since before we left. Running is good and happy with the couple we have had, especially when we have run in some really great locations. As each day goes by, we are fast recalibrating our expectations for Roth and have now got them set at 'just finishing and enjoying the day'....

To recap the last couple of days, is easier to do with some pictures:

Arc de Triomphe- The traffic around this is just 'nuts'. Grabbed it on video as it just can't be expressed in pictures and words.

Tour de France Finish Line

The Louvre (Lisa taking the Mona Lisa). When went pretty hard to get around the whole place and got 95% of it in 3 hours. A place you could spend 2 days

Eiffel Tower by night

Lyon

Pond du Gard

Arles - Cool Spot for Van Gogh fans

I like the work of the Romans however

Ended the day with a swim in Aix en Provence. Did I mention that Europeans in 2 pools thus far have proven to not be able to swim.....

Tired now, more words next time I get to log on.

Day 1

So after getting to bed at 2am, a 6:30 rise was pretty tough, but there was sightseeing to do and we were keen for a run.

Had plotted a track that took us past most of the major sights and other than one missed turn, did a run was Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. 9k easy run which was nice. I pulled up a little sore in the LH calf, but the best run I have had for 3 weeks, so was encouraging.

After a breakfast, with believe it or not "Jimmy Barnes - funny story about us tasting his coffee", we spent the rest of the day on foot, humping around Paris sightseeing. Was a brilliant day with the key locations being:

Pantheon

Palais de Luxembourg

Eiffel Tower

Musee d'Orsay Museum (lot of paintings there, even some by a dude called Van Gogh

Louvre by Night

Finished the day off with a ride on the Ferris wheel at night, which was pretty spectacular, as you can see the lights of Paris well and then to bed.

Oh by the way, it gets light here at 5:3o am and dark about 11pm......

Paris - We are here

To say that the first part of our holiday went smoothly would be a total lie. Infact what is the opposite of smooth. Hindsight is 20/20 but arriving in Paris at 8pm Saturday night, hiring a car, sorry bus, which is way bigger than we have ever driven before, with a manual, no GPS and then trying to get to your hotel. Add to that the level of patience was severely diminished by the fact that we had just travelled non-stop for around 18hrs.

Epic fail is all I can categorise our arrival as, but now it is easy to sit back and have a laugh.

To sum up the journey in:
- Made it from the Airport to Stad de France, on the outskirts of Paris itself
- Drove into Paris and got hopelessly lost
- Found a Service station, to try and get directions but instead found a cab driver
- Lisa into Cab to our Hotel, Wayne following behind.
- Number of near misses following the cab = more than there are fingers on my hand

Next problem: Parking???? Available at the hotel if you have a car the size of this, but elsewise your up that s__t creek. After a lot of laughter from our travelling partners and way to much stress we found a Parking lot where the bus will stay for the next 3 days (walking around Paris is the go)

Flight Time

Is very late on our first day of holiday, sitting in the Emirates Lounge awaiting the first leg of our trip. A 2:30 am flight departure is something a little different and one of the advantages that became apparent pretty quickly is that most of the shops are closed. Lisa will just have to make do with the Duty Free store, and I am sure she will find something.

So the stress of 'excess baggage' has passed, with 2 bikes and 2 bags in for a total of 80.1 kg. Phew, that took some effort and I think we weighed ourselves at least 20 tims each. Would have to say, I reckon they weigh light, as I am sure we weren't that heavy, lol.

Our Travelling Buddies

Was tough in Business Class

Down side to Emirates, no Jimmy!!!! Had to settle for Jack instead...... (lucky I did some training on it)

Next time I do an update we will be in France :)

Where have we been????

Lazy?
Focussed?
Busy?

Probably a combination of all 3 to be honest. When every waking hour has been directed toward either work, training, sleep, recovery or life chores, the discretionary stuff like blogging and socialising goes by the wayside.

To give the quick update:
- Itinerary for the trip has been finalised and we kick off with a couple of days in Paris, before heading south
- Shall be interesting to see how a 2 week taper will go when your on holiday in France
-Training had a lot of ups and downs, but we have got both the long rides and long runs done
- Swiming has been non existent, as the pool closed in Easter, so regular swimming has not been possible
- 6 Weeks out Wayne has got a touch of Bronchitis which has basically put paid to a solid run into the race
- 3 weeks out the usual calf problems that Wayne had managed to avoid, suddenly surfaced and very little running has been done for the last 2 weeks (fingers crossed it all comes together race day)

To sum our build up compared to previous ones, would be something in the order of a 6/10.

Either way, with work being absolutely full on this year with changes and turmoil, the break for 3 weeks is welcomed and we both are planning on just enjoying our time away and culminating in a fun day on the 10th of July in Roth!!!