This was an unbelievable trip. It turned out to be everything I wanted and more. It full of incredible moments, everything from pure joy and exhiliration to frustration and some sadness. But I was never lonely and never felt out of my element, ok maybe trying to find my way out of Paris in my Passat Wagon ( 1.5Hrs of roundabouts and one way streets, ‘I can see it, I just can’t get there!). But I really did realize thatI enjoyed my own company and there were moments that were very revealing for me about me. Having a good base of French and Italian helped tremendously and looking like one of the crowd doesn’t hurt either. I met so many wonderful people, made new friends and just had a blast weaving my way through the tiny streets, curbside cafes, and mountain passes on my bike.
So what did I want to get out of this trip? I wanted to find an opportunity to connect with myself and to be able to cancel out all of the noise that is real life so that I can hear what my heart is telling me. I listened about relationships, personal legends, and individual talents amongst other things. I had one of my most profound thoughts from the trip descending from the steps of the Eiffel Tower. Everywhere I turned there was inspiration in the art, architecture, or landscapes of the cities from Paris to Rome. You just have to be quite enough to listen to the conversations that are goining in within yourself.
Within in this web site you will find a chronological recap of the trip with photos and some commentary. All in all, I highly recommend taking the opportunity at some point in your life to travel on your own for an extended period of time, it is very revealing and a great opportunity to connect with yourself to really hear what your heart is telling you.
I arrived into Charles de Gaulle at 10:53a and made my way into Paris center to my Hotel Villa Garibaldi. BTW – If you spend more than 55 euros to get downtown you’ve been taken, I almost agreed to a 70 euro cab ride until a nice women from New York stopped me and pointed me in the right direction. After a short nap it was on my way to see the city…
Was heading to Notre Dame first, but got lost right out of the gate, a total ‘Tony’ thing to do, but without that I would not have stumbled into the Jardin du Luxembourg. The parks in Paris are amazing with people actually ‘recreating’, just sitting, talking, thinking, reading, playing Bocce, kids playing etc. BTW- I don’t think I saw one disgruntled French child. They were all running, playing, smiling, enjoying a day out with their parents. The Jardin du Tuilieries was my favorite. It is adjacent to the Louvre. It is beautiful and grand with plenty of space to sit and people watch. I layed on the grass, read some of my book, and then took a nap.
Nap Time…
You would think that in Paris you could see the Eiffel Tower and other great structures from accross in the distance because of their great heights and magnitude but actually the entire city itself is so grand that you happen to turn a corner and there it is, right there in front of you. It’s quite an exhilirating feeling to turn a corner and be staring into the soul of these magical places.
Notre Dame – I actually got to take part in mass and cleanse my soul.
Musee Louvre – You cannot believe how massive this Palace is.
Enough walking for one day. Time to grab a bite to eat and take a few snapshots on my way back to the hotel…
Pont des Arts -
My favoritie Parisian passtime other than the Jardin…
Of course with my cofee and the French newspaper L’Equipe to catch up on all the soccer news…
Up early on Day 2 and the excitement builds as I’m off to see La Tour Eiffel, L’Arc de Triomph, and then a tour of the Musee D’Orsay. The two guys from Torino that i met on the plane, that had girlfriends in Paris, told me that if you are pressed for time the Musee D’Orsay is much easier to see than the Louvre. Oh yeah, BIG soccer match that evening. They had to bring in 2000 extra police for the Paris St. Germain vs. Marseille soccer match which is the biggest rivalry in all of French Football.
La Tour Eiffel – i had my biggest revelation of the trip ascending the steps of the Eiffel Tower.
A view from above, can you see the Arc de Triomph?
L’Arc de Triomph
This was an overwhelming sight. I could only imagine riding down the Champs Elysees as Tour de France Champion and seeing the Arc for the first time. What an incredible feeling that must be. L’Arc de Triomph – Pure Inspiration, I got goose bumps as I imagined coming down the Champs D’Eliseys and getting my first glimpse of the Arc de Triomph as Tour de France Champion. We should all have an opportunity in our lives to experience what it is like to achieve real greatness, to be the best, to be a champion. Unless of course your doping, in which case you must feel like a complete piece of $@!&…
My favorites from the Musee D’Orsay…
Van Gogh, ‘Portrait de L’Artiste’
Renoir, ‘Danse a la Ville’ & ‘Danse a la Campagne’
‘Le Desire’
Capasso, ‘self sculpture’
Now time for the match, tickets were sold out so I took a cab to the stadium about an hour early and scalped a ticket. The dude wanted 80 Euros, I thought about it for a second as I translated quatre vingt to English and then offered soixant dix (70 euros) DEAL! I was in, so after the pat down the fun would begin. If you are ever travelling to Europe you must go see a soccer match of the local team as that is the only way you can get a sense for the passion and the heartbeat of the people…
After a wonderful and inspiring time in Paris I picked up my car at Europcar and was on my way 900km from Paris to Nice. i was driving a sweet VW Passat with about 3500Km on it and listened to French radio stations NRJ, FUN, and SKYROCK the whole way.
View from my hotel in Grasse (just outside of Cannes)…
Me and my ride off to the first ride of the trip…
Ready to depart Greoliers…
This was an 80 Km ride from Greoliers to Mons and back. It was beautiful weaving through the mountains and there were tough climbs and breathtaking descents. It was amazing what a metaphor for life the ride really was. For every tough climb I knew that on the way back that would be a sweet descent and for every sweet descent I knew there was a tough climb awaiting me on the other end. You just had to enjoy it all…
Below is a photo of Mons, the halfway point where I stopped at about 12:30pm and of course nothing was open for lunch…duh…so a French family invited me in for lunch and filled my water bottles…notice the white wine…
I absolutely loved the French Riviera. All I have to say is Plage Mala. A sweet little beach tucked away in a canyon in Cap D’Ail, between Nice and Monaco. I spent many hours there in the morning, in the afternoon, at night…it is just awesome!
Plage Mala
This is a walkway that goes along the water connecting Cannes to Monaco, you can walk the whole way and on a rainy day I did a workout along the path running stairs along the way.
76 stairs, a tough workout as i did 6 repeats up L’Escalier de Solitude…(Stairs of Solitude)
I met up with my friend Rob in Monaco, he’s lived there for about 15 years and has the sweetest apartment in all of the French Riviera. Below is a photo of us on the Lounge at Zebra Square a trendy little Bar/Restaurant in Monaco. There we ate a great meal and had drinks in the lounge with Rob’s buddy Julian Lennon.
Rob and I drinking Champagne at Zebra Square
We were on our way home at 2am and my hotel reception was closed so I had to crash on Rob’s couch. I left the patio doors open and fell asleep to the crashing waves and awakened to the sunrise over the Mediteranean.
This ride was the icing on the cake for my trip. The Col De La Madone is famous because Lance Armstrong used this climb as final test in his preperations for the Tour de Fance. In fact, the Trek Madone bike is named after this climb. The ride was about 50km total with about 17km of climbing 3000 feet or 925 meters. The start is in Menton and then I passed through St. Agnes and then Peille and then the decent through La Turbie.
The view to the summitt from Menton.
This photo gives you an idea of the heights, see the highway below and the mediteranean in the distance
As I git nearer to the top the roads became much more narrow
Whew, I made it! At the top I met a 59 year old French guy who was a Lance fanatic. Notice the 10/2 gear, Nike shoes, and Trek US Postal bike. Taking the picture was a 75 year old French guy who just came to the top, amazing! He does the ride every week and I decided to descend from the top with those two and the 75 year old proceeds to tell me how he will go slow as he is old and of he crashes he will break every bone in his body. The dude was FLYING down the mountain and I could barely keep up.
My final stop was in Rome and I had a total of 6 hours to hit the sights and then I was going to make it over to Stadio Olympico to watch Roma play Inter Milan in the Serie A. But before i get to Rome I have a photo below of my family in Torino that graciously put me up for 3 days and fed me until I was nice and plump.
The Coloseum
The Trevi Fountain – Threw a 1 euro coin and made a wish
The Spanish Steps – A lot of Spanish people around
