PSG v Monaco

Last week I went out to see our local Ligue 1 Football team, Paris St Germain play Monaco at the Parc des Princes Stadium on the west side of town.

It was a pretty crazy atmosphere. Very different to the more reserved atmosphere that one might find at a French national team game. The supporters at PSG are very serious and are well known for not minding having a bit of a riot or two. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) we did not get to experience any random acts of violence. However, there were about 40,000 people there (apparently a good crowd for a freezing Wednesday night) and the place was rocking.

What should be known about PSG fans is they don't mind fighting amongst themselves as well as with fans from other teams (especially Marseille) . At one end of the ground, the Boulogne end, sit the predominately white, nationalist (some would say racist) supporters. Down the opposite end of the ground, the Auteuil end, you will find a very diverse mix of multi-ethnic supporters who are equally as passionate about the team as their Boulogne counterparts. From time to time these differences are sorted out in terms slightly more forceful than a mere verbal slanging match. We were sitting in the middle, along with most of the less crazy supporters.

On the evening we went the crowd was in relatively fine behaviour, (although we did see a couple of flares in the crowd) Somehow, due to a completely bizzare goalkeeping error and absolutely butchering of about 5 chances in front of goal, PSG lost to Monaco 1 -0.

v

Germany

It was very pleasant to travel to Germany for a week and enjoy some ruthless German efficiency, which is a far cry from the stifling French bureaucracy as described previously.

We took in Berlin and Munich, and got out to a few different activities.

The best thing that we did was go for a drive in a 'Trabi' the people's car (if you happened to be people from East Germany) which was the pride of East German engineering. With an enormous 500cc two stroke engine, generating a massive 19kw of power, the Trabi truly was the car of its time. It had a four speed column shift gearbox. To make things easier this was the first time that I had had the pleasure of driving on the right hand side of the road. To my credit, I managed not to stall it once despite a really shitty clutch.

Onto Munich we took in a Bayern Munich Champions League game at the Allianz Arena. Which was pretty cool.

Following this we headed out into the Alps to see a couple of castles, and our first real experience of European Winter.

Lastly we headed out to the Munich Olympic site to have a bit of a look around there as well.

France v Austria - World Cup Qualifier

Not being able to help ourselves with our desire to finally see some world class football. We took ourselves along with some other Aussies out to Stade de France last week, to see the World Cup Qualifiedr between France and Austria.

France have been struggling a little with their qualification for South Africa 2010, coming 2nd in their group, and indeed lost to Austria 1 - 0 in their last meet back in Austria earlier in their year. Sadly for France the outcome of their group was such that regardless of the result of this game they were destined to finish 2nd in their group which meant they still have not qualified for the World Cup, but they are not out of it at the same time.

Despite this fact, there was a sellout crowd at the Stade de France of 80,000 (home to the 1998 World Cup Final). We were very pleased when we arrived at our seats to discover that there were 40,000 French flag distributed amongst the seats for us to wave throughout the game. So we grabbed our flags and settled into our seats on the lower level in the corner of the ground.

The stadium slowly filled and by the time the two teams came out onto the field it had reached a roar. After a stirring rendition of 'Le Marseillaise' (during which I find it very difficult not to start singing the Brisbane Lions club song) the game got underway.

Austria almost opened the scoring after 10 mins, only to be denied by an acrobatic save from the French keeper. This early strike stirred the French team and from this point onwards they finally started finding their feet and launched numerous attacking raids only to be denied by the Austrian defense. The Frenchmen's hard work was rewarded with a goal by Benzema after 18 minutes. 10 minutes later, French hero Henry was barely touched as he was brought down in the box, but the referee had no hesitations in pointing directly at the spot. Henry picked himself up, and stepped up to the mark to casually slot away France's 2nd goal after 27 mins. It could easily have been 3 or 4 before half time, if not for some wayward shooting and poor last touches by the French players. However they went into the main break, leading 2 goals to nil.

France opened up the 2nd half looking a little slack, and Austria were able to pounce on this slackness picking up a lucky goal 2 mins into the 2nd half. This goal once against woke up the French team and they continued to dominate for the next 25 mins. During this time they were rewarded for their persistance with a 3rd goal by Gignac in the 67th minute. This would finalise the scoring for the evening and when the referees whistle sounded for full time, everyone (except the small group of Austrian fans) would leave happy with the result at 3-1.

The National Anthem

Henry's Goal

Paris Roller Dimanche

(All these pics here are courtesy of the 'Rollers & Coquillages' Website) I was too scared to take my camera the first time for fear of falling and breaking it.

Put on your hypercolour t-shirt on, grab some C&C Music Factory for your walkman and come and meet me with your roller blades at Bastille on Sunday.

The fact that the fad that was roller blading ended long before Hey Hey it's Saturday first left our screens somehow never reached France. Roller blading (or as it is called here "Rollers") is still supremely popular, and the sport continues to grow year after year in France. I am not sure why this is. In Paris 'Rollers' are a legitimate form of transport, and one thing that struck me when I first arrived here, is the sheer number of people you see wearing 'Rollers'. You will see them in a shop, sitting at a cafe or on the metro. Go to any sports store, and there is a very large section entirely dedicated to all things rollers.

Not being wanted to be left behind by the fashion of Parisians, I myself have rejoined the army of those who own Rollers. My last pair, I think were discarded around 1995, around the same time that puberty was in full swing. Now 14 years later, I once again own a pair of Roller Blades.

So last Sunday, I took myself and my 'Rollers' out to Bastille to take part in the weekly 'Paris Roller Dimanche'. Which basically involves a 20km skate around the streets of Paris, with about 10,000 other people. What is good, is that they actually close the streets for the rollers to come through (there is a full police escort, including police on rollers themselves) Its a great way to see the city, and is a lot more relaxing than trying to navigate your way through all of the traffic.

Stade Francais v Castres

We finally pulled our finger out and got to a game in the French Top 14 Rugby Union competition on the weekend. Our local team (Stade Francais) had just sacked former NSW coach Ewan McKenzie, as they were languishing down the bottom of the table after 5 rounds. This is despite (as the French gentleman who sat in front of us kept reiterating to us) that the team is packed with current and former French internationals, as well as a smattering from other countries.

The former international I was most interested in seeing was Mark Gasnier (albeit from Rugby League). No suprises however when we checked the team listings and discovered he was not playing. It turns out he has brought his St George Illawarra, injury machine form with him to Paris, and is currently out for 4 games with another busted ankle. So alas no Gaz to be seen.

After a tight first half, Stade lead 16 - 15 at half time. The new coach must have given the

players a massive spray over their oranges in the sheds. Stade came out and put on 28 points in

the 2nd half. The best that Castres could manage in the same 40 minutes was a solitary penalty goal. Final score, the pink men from Stade Francais 44, Castres, 18.

According to the newspaper is was attended by 13,000 odd fans, most of them wearing the

delightful pink of Stade Francais, a slightly strange sight for big manly football players that is for sure.

Tour de France - Final Stage in Paris

On Sunday we took ourselves, along with 300,000 other Parisians, into the centre of town to witness the final Stage of the Tour de France.

After having cycled 3,500km over the last 3 or so weeks, the riders still find the time to compete on the final stage which is a 160km stage, involving 80km to get into Paris, followed by 8 laps of a 10km course around the streets of central Paris.

We dragged ourselves up out of bed early to join a big bunch of other Australians staking out a prime position on the side of the road about 500m from the finish line. We arrived at 10:30am, however the cyclists were not to arrive untill 4:30 or so. In true Australian tradition, we cracked open our first beer at around 11am, and proceeded to drink our way until the cyclists arrived, engaging in witty conversation with our new found Australian friends.

Our early arrival with sheer numbers and multitude of Australian flags hanging up along the fence however, did not perturb a few locals who arrived quite late to the festivities from wanting to fill even the tiniest piece of personal space between any of us. One particularly large gentleman who tried to use his ample stomach to wedge his way into our space, was greeted with scowls by a couple of other Australians and a small agrument ensued. It was quickly mediated by the local constabulary, who found in the favour of the Australians. (Owing only to the earlyness of our arrival.) This gentleman, despite this setback in losing round 1,and more notably his prime position on the fence that he felt was rightfully his, (due to the rotund nature of the aforementioned stomach) decided he would take up a spot right in the middle of our group, much to our annoyance. In order to combat this and hopefully cause as much grief to him as possible, loud conversations were had, in both English & French straight across this man with the hope he would feel uncomfortable enough to leave. Sure enough, with the persistance of 30mins of conversations going backward and forward across him, he packed up stumps and left. He however was not the only infiltrator to our little patch of Australia on Rue de Rivoli that afternoon, as we had a few other people trying to encroach on our little space of fence that we wished to defend with honour and dignity.

About 4:30 the cyclists arrived for their first of 8 laps and quickly a small group of 8 riders took the lead putting a 30sec gap on the main bunch. However, there was a sustained pace on the front of the bunch from Team Columbia who wanted their man Mark Cavendish to pick up his 6th stage victory of the Tour. The gap was slowly closing as each lap came through, and by the

last lap, Team Columbia had everything working great having already swollowed up the bunch of 8. As they came past us for the last time 500m out (in photo on the right) they had their man George Hincapie on the front with Aussie Mark Renshaw following in 2nd and their main man Mark Cavendish in 3rd. Right on his wheel though was green jersey holder Thor Hushvold who although was winning the green jersey did not have a stage victory to his name. Aussie Mark Renshaw lead out Cavendish beautifully with 250m to go and Cavendish won the stage easily with Renshaw coming in 2nd.

Overall winner of 'Le Tour' was Spain's Alberto Contador (pictured here in the Yellow Jersey)

After the festivities were over as far as the cycling was concerned, we retired with our big group of Aussies to the closest watering hole for a couple of quiet post Tour beverages.

(Thor Hushvold) - Green Jersey Winner

Tour de France Explained - Part 1

Howdy, well I know you have been up all night watching the Tour,

and have probably wondered who and what are all of the sponsors and everything. Well I will try to inform you here.

Lets start with the Jerseys -

Maillot Jeune (Yellow Jersey) awarded to the overall leader- Sponsored by LCL Banque, which is a large French Bank, originating in Lyon, back in the mid 1800's, and is now considered one of the 'Big

Three' pillars of French banking, along with BNP Paribas (who sponsor the French Open Tennis) and Societe Generale.

Maillot Verte (Green Jersey) awarded for sprinters points. Sponsored by PMU - Pari Mutuel Urbain, which is effectively the French version of the TAB. This is why it has a horse in its logo. A lot of pubs and bars have PMU much like in Australia, and there are also PMU shops, like there are TAB shops, were men spend a lot of their saturday afternoons.

Maillot a Pois Rouge (Polka Dot Jersey) awarded to the best mountain climber. Sponsored by Carrefour.

Carrefour are a humongous hypermarket chain in France and infact I have read that the Carrefour Group is second only to Wal-Mart in terms the worlds largest retail companies. Carrefour run numerous brands of supermarkets in France and have their own 'home brand' products marketed under the Carrefour label. If you go into an actual Carrefour Hypermarket, they are MASSIVE, its like a Bunnings, Harvey Norman, Myer, Rebel and Woolworths all rolled into one store.

Le Tour - Stage 4, Montpellier

Yesterday I hopped on a TGV train early in the morning from Paris, with great excitement for i was heading to Montpellier for the day to see stage 4 of 'Le Tour'. Stage 4, was designated as a team time trial stage. Starting in central Montpellier, it wound its way out of town towards the North West, around the local countryside and finally back into the South West of Montpellier. In total 39km.

Montepellier is 765km from Paris, (it was way down on the south coast) Mercifially the TGV is super, super fast, and the trip on the train was a mere 3hrs and 20 mins. When I booked my tickets for the TGV, it was only an extra 4 euros to travel first class, so I thought bugger it, why the hell not and I went down there in style.

Lets have a quick look at what my extra 4 euro got me on this journey. Apart from the extra legroom and slightly further reclining seat than 2nd class, my four euros bought me a powerpoint for the entire journey. Thats it. So had I had wanted to plug in my waffle iron and make waffles for my fellow passengers, I had the ability to do so. Sucked in to all those plebs in 2nd class without their waffles.

After my early start in Paris, I arrived in Montpellier just before lunch time, and with maps in hand, proceeded to start my walk towards where I hoped I would find the finish line for Stage 4 of 'Le Tour'. Sure enough about 5 km from the centre of the city, I found myself the finish line, it was still a little early, so there were a lot of people milling around, and generally setting everything up. I was looking out for Phil Ligett, but sadly could not find him anywhere. I could easily have taken up a position right on the finish line if I so desired, but alas, I wanted a true, rustique experience of 'Le Tour', so I proceeded to walk back up the route of the track, in the hope to get outside the city limits and into the local countryside.

I walked down to the 1km to go sign, which was still in the city, so I kept walking, about another 500m up the road, I could tell I was starting to get to the outskirts of town, as the houses were starting to thin out. A short walk up the hill was the 2km to go sign, and now I was really out of town. I wandered down the other side of the hill and around the corner and took up a position on the side of the road next to a paddock, where there were already quite a few locals milling on the shady side of the road (silly me was all by myself on the sunny side of the road) with keen anticipation of the days events to come.

I sat around for about and hour and slowly the crowd began to build. At about 1:30 there was a lot of noise coming from further down the road, and all of a sudden all the kids (and everyone else) who was sensibly sitting in the shade came running to the road. Kids were shouting to their parents "Regarde, Regarde!!" (look, look) with an excited glint in their eyes as though Santa Claus was coming. You know what, that didn't end up being too far from the truth.

Off in the distance around the corner I saw what looked like a big yellow lion driving up the hill, this was quickly followed by a giant 4 pack of bottled water also driving up the hill. Not far after that, a massive tyre came up the hill, which was followed by a guy driving a giant cup of coffee. For the next hour solid, I was bombarded by advertising, in a kind of bizzare, Gay Mardi Gras style float system, as advertiser after advertiser came driving past in ever more elaborate advertising 'floats'. Each seemingly trying to outdo each other in grandness and strangness.

This is what is called 'Le Caravane'. Every official sponsor of 'Le Tour' plus all of the major sponsors of the 20 teams, make up all of these elaborate floats, that go around about a half an hour before the cyclists go through on the entire route of 'Le Tour'.

For kids, its like christmas time, as they are throwing out from their floats, all sorts of advertising goodies, that the kids fight over, like hats, key rings, lollies, coffee and there was even one float that was for a washing detergent that was throwing out free samples of their product. I managed to score myself some choice goodies. I even copped a packet of chips right in the chest having been thrown from one of the floats at a distance of about 1 meter.

Anyway once 'Le Caravane' had finished bombarding me with its commercial delights, it was time for the serious cycling to begin. Because I had taken up a spot a bit outside town, it was full of locals and by 2:30 the crowd and begun to swell along the road.

There appears to be quite an important ettiquite involved as the riders approach, and any of you who have watched the race on tv will see this occuring. Basically, everyone just stands around on the road waiting (or the sensible people sit in the shade off the road) Then about 30 seconds before a group of riders come through, an escort of two police motorcycles will come through to clear people off the road. Once the police cycles have gone through, people walk back onto the road to stand where they were prior to the police bikes coming through. For those sitting off to the side in the shade, the police bikes going through is their sign to get up and head over to the road in anticipation of the cyclists. So everyone stands on the road to watch the cyclists come towards them, then about 5 second before the cyclists come past you, you just casually step off to the side of the road.

Where I was standing on the side of the road, the cyclists were coming to my side of the road, in order to take a bend just up the road and as such it suprised me how close I actually was to most of the riders. Some of them rolled on by, I estimate no more than 1ft from my feet. I could have stuck my arm out and coathangered anyone I wanted. It suprises me that there are not more incidents with spectators.

I managed to cheer on all of the Aussies as they went past, and generally everyone else as well. There was a pretty good atmosphere amongst the spectators and it was a fun ol day.

All in all I must say it was a much better way to see the action, out with the locals, in a spot on the road where there were no barricades. However for the last group, I did head up the road to the 2km to go sign, to start my long walk back in to town a bit earlier. As such, when Lance Armstrong and Team Astana went past, I managed to get myself on TV! So there is another one to chalk up.

(Here is the video below from the official Tour Coverage, see if you can spot me on the left just after the 2km sign)