Logan Studies UK Sports: Paris Weekend Excursion

This past weekend we traveled across the pond to Paris, France for the weekend. With only 48 hours in the french town, we did all we could to experience both the cultural history of Paris and also the sports that were came alive while we were there. The final stage of the Tour de France was staged there, finishing on Sunday down the Champs de Elysee towards the Arc de Triomphe. I'll speed you through the weekend and catch you up on some of my highlights.

The first night we arrived around 18:00 and a group of us decided to go out to the center of Paris to the Eiffel Tower. Seeing this magnificent structure loom over the city center is aweinspiring every time one sees it. I have been to Paris before and seen this architecture, but every time it truly takes your breath away. After taking pictures we headed off to a restaurant called The Frog (Tucson-ers...the Frog on University...much better). After dinner, a walk around Paris with a couple chocolate crepes and it was time to call it a night.

The next day was once again a free day...so a group of us decided to live like the Parisians and go into the local areas to buy our hearts desire. An hour later I walked away with a full baguette, a stick of fresh Swiss cheese, four cream puffs filled with chocolate and caramel, and a bottle of French wine. Proceeding on, we walked to the lawn of the Eiffel tower and sat and chowed down on the best lunch of the trip. After relaxing for about 4 hours.....we decided to venture off to see more sites along the Champs de Elysee.

Walking about 15 minutes, we made it to the Arc de Triomphe, where we took pictures and tried to avoid the herds of tourists swarming the areas. After a Parisian lunch, we did our best to stay local and enjoy the culture rather than the tourist attractions.

While we were at the Arc, we saw a team of cyclists posing in front of the monument. From this moment on, it was hard not to notice the wind changing towards sport, towards pride in a race that has been going on for over 100 years.

The Arc de Triomphe

The Cyclist Team

After grabbing some dinner and another glimpse at the Eiffel Tower, we took the subway back to the hotel for a quick rest before the next day.

Leaving Sunday night at 7, we had a full day ahead of us to take in the culture of cycling that had all of a sudden imposed itself on Paris. But before the Tour de France came through, we had to see two more iconic landmarks of Paris: Notre Dame, an old gothic church....and the Louve, the largest museum in the world and home to the Mona Lisa and occasionally Tom Hanks.

The Notre Dame

The Entrance to the Louve in a Glass Pyramid

It was finally time for the Tour de France to come through. With people lining the streets, literally all the way down from the Louve to the Arc, chaos was everywhere. Although I was only able to see the actual riders for about 30 seconds, simply being in Paris during this event was all one needed to fully comprehend the Tour's importance to this country. Check out the pictures below to try and comprehend the magnitude of this event. All of Paris was dressed in Tour de France t-shirts and cyclist jerseys.