My bride and I, along with another couple, took a trip to France the last two weeks of July. The main purpose of the trip was to check off a bucket-list item; see the Tour de France bike race in person. We also planned the trip to include visits to several places in Paris, the south of France, the French Alps, and a visit to the beaches of Normandy. It was a busy couple of weeks!
We
arrived in Paris on a beautiful Friday morning and immediately began exploring.
Over the next 4 days, we:
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Enjoyed
a food tour, led by a Brit who had lived in Paris for a decade. His pleasant
nature and wit, along with an extensive knowledge of foods and dining
locations, made for a very enjoyable five hours.
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Dined
aboard a river boat on the Seine. This cruise began at 8:30 pm and wound up
around 11:00. Since the dock was located near the Eiffel Tower, we returned
just as the lovely site lit up and began its nightly sparkling. It was magical!
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Visited
several markets in the city. I’m always amazed at the multitudes of these
whenever I visit Europe. The markets are fascinating in terms of their size and
the wide variety of products they offer. Great for eating and buying gifts for
the folks back home!
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Visited
famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Bastille, and Notre Dame Cathedral to
which, unfortunately, we were unable to gain entry. You may recall it suffered
horrible damage in a fire in April of 2019. While repairs will continue for a
long time, much of the cathedral is available to visit and so many people are
doing so – 30,000 per day – that getting one of the timed entry slots is difficult.
We walked around the outside and learned all about the rebuilding and
renovation. The combination of modern technology and old world craftsmanship is
fascinating to see.
After
enjoying Paris, and all the food and drink we could manage, we took the train
to Avignon in the south to begin our Tour de France adventure. Train travel is
so delightful in Europe! Fast, inexpensive, and civilized, it’s one of my
favorite parts of a European trip.
In Avignon, we rented a car big enough to hold four adults and luggage (it took the largest SUV they had which wasn’t big compared to American vehicles) and headed into the country. We rented a “Chalet Atypique” through booking.com and it was very rural. It consisted of two small buildings on a farm near the town of Bedoin where decent cell service is not yet a thing. Just the same, it was delightful to be off the grid for a few days.
I had also arranged to rent Ebikes for the four of us and they were delivered shortly after we arrived. Having never ridden one, I was looking forward to seeing the difference.
The
next morning, we packed lunches, along with the requisite bottles of wine, and
headed off to Mt. Ventoux, a very famous climb of the Tour, which began about 5
kilometers away. Almost immediately, I realized that ebikes are amazing! These
provided a boost to your pedaling and you could adjust the amount of assistance
with a lever. With almost no effort, we easily managed about 20 kmh, uphill.
Amazing!
We
reached the entrance to the road leading up the hill and headed up along with
thousands of other bike fans, stopping for a break about the halfway point. The
weather was gorgeous, our stopping point was in the shade and so we decided to
watch from there and proceeded to picnic and party with everyone for the next 5
hours or so.
I had the opportunity to speak with a few folks from the surrounding area, all of whom were kind enough to speak English and not let me butcher their native tongue. By the end of the day, we had made a few friends and acquaintances before heading back down the hill. (There were so many that we were forced to walk about halfway back because of the crowds.)
The next morning we packed up and headed north to the French Alps, to a ski resort called La Plagne. The Tour would finish there two days later and we had a condo at the top of the mountain. These next two days were filled with hiking and eating and drinking and game playing with our friends. Topped off with a hike over one summit to another one where the stage ended. MB and I secured a spot 150 meters from the finish line with a giant video screen across the road from us. As a result, we were able to watch the entire race and then catch the riders as they blazed past us. Such a good time!
The
next morning, we drove to Albertville and turned in our rental car and caught a
train to Paris where we checked into another hotel for two nights. Our stay
included sauntering across the city to the Champs Elysee to watch the final
stage finish of this year’s tour. We stood with thousands of other fans in, at
times, a driving rainstorm as the riders passed by 3 times before finishing a
few hundred meters from our position. What an amazing spectacle this is!
We
walked slowly back across the city to our hotel, stopping for dinner at a
brasserie, before turning in for the night.
Next
morning, we took a train to a town called Caen where we rented another car to
drive to Normandy. Our stay for two nights was at a bed and breakfast about
fifty meters from Omaha Beach, site of the D-Day Landing.
Our
guide for the Normandy tour was a delightful local man who guided us from 9:00
am to 6:30 pm, driving us around the area while providing a detailed
description of every place we visited; the German cemetery, the American
cemetery (where we caught Taps being played and the colors being stricken for
the night) the town of Bayeux and Caen where several of the battles took place
during the first three days of the invasion, Omaha Beach and the German bunkers
that had been built for defending against the invasion. These exist today as a
testament to what the Allies had to overcome to secure our freedom and remove
the Occupation from France.
Standing
in one of the bunkers, looking through a narrow slit at the beach and ocean, I
kept imagining what it must have been like to be a young German soldier;
looking out onto the ocean and suddenly seeing, as the sky brightened with
dawn, over 7,000 ships spread out as far as his eyes could see. Over 150,000
troops were on their way to take back what had been stolen. How frightening and
discouraging that must have felt!
We had
dinner that night at our hotel and talked about what all we’d seen and
experienced over the last two weeks. We also talked about the conversations
we’d had with the people we’d met and how we found the French people to be very
friendly and welcoming to us. The ones that we engaged in deeper conversation
were especially more friendly when they found that all four of us did not vote
for the current administration and, in fact, are adamantly opposed to it. They
were almost unanimously on our side of the conversation and wondering, openly,
“How did he get elected?” (Our answers focused on our election process and
systems, including a discussion about how many Americans don’t bother to vote.
Most were surprised by that.)
The
flight home two days later started me thinking about why the world is
questioning everything about America and where she stands, at this moment. After
all, the US had been responsible for helping to overthrow the murderous regimes
of the Nazis along with Italy and Japan. Our ability to crank out necessary
arms and munitions was one of the deal makers in winning the war.
Along
the way, the US was instrumental in helping Europe to rebuild through the
Marshall Plan, and assisted those economies in getting back on their feet. The
treaties that were signed, and the partnerships that were formed, allowed all
the free countries of the world to develop powerful economies and raise
standards of living for nearly everyone.
When
Trump was elected the first time, it left most of the free world scratching its
head and wondering what happened? The chaos, the pomposity, the brusqueness, the
cozying up to dictators (Putin, Un, etc.) seemed so unamerican to everyone.
When he was defeated in 2020, there was almost a collective silent prayer of
thanks from all those countries. Almost as if to say, “Okay, the Americans are
back on track again! Thanks heavens!”
Now
that he’s back in power and was elected by “the same people that voted him out”
they’re stunned even more so! He’s even more obnoxious, he appears to be a
racist, and a fascist, is an adjudged sex offender, isn’t particularly
intelligent, and is bringing a host of unqualified people in to run the US
Government whose sole qualification is they follow Trump. He’s overseeing the
cutting of programs that directly improve the lives of people around the globe
and is looking to charge tariffs (without knowing how they actually work) to
countries that have been our trading partners for decades under the accusation
that those “supposed trading partners” have been “ripping us off for years!”
Why
does the world think we’re crazy or worse?
I
think part of it is that, unlike most of the rest of the free world, Americans
are far less likely to register to vote and, once registered, are less likely
to cast a vote.
Want
some data?
79.8%
of Americans that are eligible to vote, have actually registered as of 2025. 18-34
year olds really hurt the average as they’re around 62%. And actual voting is lower
than the average of all countries with free and fair election – right around
60% vs over 70% for the rest.
Since Europeans
typically vote more frequently, I suspect they are expecting Americans to do so,
as well. After all, we’re the ones who really helped save the world from authoritarian
domination in WW2 along with the cold war. Americans must believe in democracy
then, right? Right??
If
that’s so, then HOW THE HELL DID THEY ELECT A DICTATOR, WHO COZIES UP TO
OLIGARCHS? WHO BRINGS THE MILITARY IN AGAINST HIS OWN PEOPLE? WHO IS A THIRTY
FOUR TIMES CONVICTED FELON? WHO APPOINTS THE LEAST QUALIFIED PEOPLE INTO POSITIONS
OF POWER SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM? WHO APPEARS TO BE A RACIST AND
A SEXIST? DOES IT MEAN THAT ALL OR MOST AMERICANS ARE LIKE THAT? HAVE THEY BEEN
THAT WAY ALL ALONG?
If you
aren’t yet aware of it, people in other countries think we’re crazy or worse. These
are the reasons why!
Just know that they're also rooting for us to get out of this current situation we've put ourselves into. They think we can do it!
I sure hope they're right...
