Paris – I told myself I will take 15 minutes each day to report back on things going on while I'm in Europe.
Well, I've been here almost 24 hours and still haven't pounded out an entry. So here goes.
Things didn't seem to get off to the greatest of starts on this trip. Unless you consider my luggage actually made it (which it didn't in my two previous trips across the pond). First, it appears I left my micro-recorder somewhere other than my black bag. That's not a big deal, though, since my Blackberry has a recording function. I also encountered about a two-hour delay getting out of Chicago. It was apparently a mechanical thing, though the weather (stormy) wasn't the greatest, either.
What was nice about the trip was Scott Nydam (BMC Racing Team do-everything-guy) joined me on the flight. We met up in Chicago. He bailed me out with his carry-on razor after I discovered I missed a spot shaving the back of my head. A big spot, I might add. The other nice thing about the eight-hour flight was the fact that United has TVs in its seat backs – unlike Delta, which has a couple TV monitors scattered about the cabin. So I started watching, "The King's Speech" and quickly lost interest. I had eight other movies to choose from and chose "Tangled," which I have seen twice already. Apparently a lot of other passengers liked that one, since it appeared to be on nearly every screen as I walked down the aisle.
After a nice dinner in my cramped window seat (the flight was full), I slept for nearly seven hours. This turned out to be a good thing, as I usually am exhausted the first couple days over here. So far, so good.
The rest of my first day here was spent covering a race in Italy and getting organized. My room is nice (though small, as expected) and I received a ton of new BMC Racing Team gear, including T-shirts, socks, two pairs of black jeans (not Hincapie Sportswear, unfortunately), hats and new Thule luggage. The backpack is my new "travel" bag for on-site use. We'll see how it works out beginning on today's stage.
The race today is on a circuit, so we'll see the riders come by at least three times. Jacques Michaud, one of the BMC Racing Team managers, is going to take me around. He's a former Tour de France stage winner so everyone knows him. He says he's going to introduce me to Bernard Hinault and take my photo with the former five-time Tour winner. That would be nice since I've been a fair of Hinault since I first got interested in the sport in 1981.
My office area – with a view of the highway nearby.
No room for all the new gear, so it went on the bed.
More new luggage – courtesy of Thule.
Two phones for this race. The red one is my French number.
Here's the bathroom (photo for Julia).
Not a big room, but nice.
Check out the room numbers. Laser-printed paper.
Trudi Rebsamen was ready for our arrival, as usual.
3 comments:
Nice!
No bidet in the bathroom though? (Julia would enjoy that if you did!)
Looks nice. Have fun!
Enjoyed the update and looking forward to more of them. Lots of new stuff to get back to the states, good thing they gave you luggage to put it all in. So jealous of all the fun you are having.
Lots of luggage - and clothing - Holly. And no bidet, Bridge. But I did have to ask where the "WC" was at least once on Sunday.
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