![\"TdF](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/paualready.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/IMG_0974_sm-300x199.jpg?resize=300%2C199\" "\\"IMG_0974_sm\\"")
<\/a>Rather than diving into the crowd at today\u2019s race start, we hopped a tram and headed up course a few kilometers. The tram route paralleled the TdF course for quite a distance, so we just stayed on until we found a spot with large breaks in the spectator lines. It was great! No more of elbowing and jostling, the view of the passing bikes was unobstructed, but again, incredibly brief. Again, this is not a very good live spectator sport, but it\u2019s still an incredible feeling to be inches away from a very determined and very focused pro cyclist cranking out a good 45 kilometers per hour. A passing peloton pushes a wind gust not unlike that of a Mack truck.<\/p>\nIt was around noon when le Tour passed our spot and an office building just behind us was hosting an outdoor Tour view and lunch for their employees–my kind work environment. We had a bit of time to kill before our flight, so it was back to the trolley for an impromptu pass through a rather upscale Brussels neighborhood, a gorgeous park and a quick stop for glass of wine at a chic little bistro.<\/p>\n
We ended up killing a bit more time than was probably wise and therefore the airport trip became rather hurried. In our haste, we overlooked the fact that the liter of Scotch we\u2019d been schlepping since the duty free shop in Chicago was still in a carry on.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t had to deal with that security nonsense in over a week. Dumping an almost-full bottle of Scots whiskey in an airport trash can was not an easy act. C\u2019est la vie.\u00a0 To sooth the soul after the great hooch dump, I ordered a half split of champagne on the SAS flight. The flight attendant brought us the most delightful Orefors glasses in which to enjoy the bubbly. Mange tak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monday, July 5 Our Euro Capital hotel in Brussels is the quintessence of our Euro lodging. Located across the street from the main train station\u2014frequently an interesting part of town\u2014it was 3-star, clean, comfortable and a compact and at \u20ac80 with breakfast, a screaming deal. The French-born Algerian desk clerk spoke at least 4 languages\u2014pretty …<\/p>\n
Race Stage 2 \u2013 TdF Goes Brussels to Spa<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tdf-2010","category-trips"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6E0Kx-3R","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paualready.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"TdF](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/paualready.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/IMG_0974_sm.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0974_sm\\"")
<\/a>Rather than diving into the crowd at today\u2019s race start, we hopped a tram and headed up course a few kilometers. The tram route paralleled the TdF course for quite a distance, so we just stayed on until we found a spot with large breaks in the spectator lines. It was great! No more of elbowing and jostling, the view of the passing bikes was unobstructed, but again, incredibly brief. Again, this is not a very good live spectator sport, but it\u2019s still an incredible feeling to be inches away from a very determined and very focused pro cyclist cranking out a good 45 kilometers per hour. A passing peloton pushes a wind gust not unlike that of a Mack truck.<\/p>\n