July 13

I let Angie sleep late this morning since we had all day to play. She had mentioned taking the morning to go to Versailles, but when she woke up she was still too tired so we just fumbled away the morning and took a walk around Paris as we made our way to Bugsy's to watch the time trial. Bugsy's was one of the bars that Clinton, our Fat Tire guide, suggested for us. We made the walk to Bugsy's, which was at the opposite end of the Champs Elysees from our hotel, but we were in no hurry. We enjoy people watching as we walk around Paris. We see some very interesting wardrobe combinations, some looked like they haven't finished dressing and some are just funny, although they probably think the same thing about us. We found Bugsy's with no problem and discovered the girls working there were from Dublin, so it would be an easy English speaking day for us. There were big wide screen televisions at each end of the bar. We asked if they would turn on the Tour, which they gladly did. There was a group of British guys sitting on the other side of the bar from us and I heard them asking the bartender if she would change the station to watch a cricket match. Angie and I both cringed, but since Lance would start for several hours, we figured we'd offer to let them watch the cricket match, then we'd change it after that was over. The Brits made a couple of jokes about cycling and the race was over anyway because Lance had one, etc, but all in good spirits, so they turned on the cricket match. Angie and I watched a while quickly realizing that we couldn't figure out the rules or what was going on, so Angie told the guys, "If we're going to watch this, you're going to have to explain the rules and tell us how to play." The first thing they told us was it was a five day match! "Five Days! Okay we're not watching this for five days", I said. We had a great time with the guys for the next couple of hours and one of them had a dog, which Angie quickly scarfed up and hugged and kissed. We learned a little bit about cricket and later changed the station to the Tour. The guys were amazed at how much Angie new about cycling. She would identify each rider when they came up on the screen before the graphics told who they were, as well as if she likes them or not and why.

One of the guys, Ben, mentioned that he had been to Birmingham Alabama before. He said he worked as a butler and had trained a guy in a suburb called Mountain Brook, which is about 10 minutes from where we live. Ben then gave me his card and told us that he worked at the British Embassy and said the next time we were in Paris, if we'd get in touch with him, he'd give us a tour! I gave him my card and told him we'd love to take a tour sometime.

Our attention went back to the Tour as the last few riders were starting. Lance went off last, which is a big benefit because he gets time splits of the other riders so he can tell how he's doing. Several other Americans met us because we had told them about Bugsy's, so we ended up with a good crowd and had a blast watching as Lance won the stage! The entire bar erupted in cheers as Lance pulled on the yellow jersey!

Ben got our attention from across the bar and asked us what we were doing at 6:00 and would we like to just come on over to the Embassy? YES, of course! We blew off our dinner plans and told Ben we'd meet him in an hour.