Tour de France!

We had the amazing opportunity to see the riders come through Pontarlier, France for the 20th leg of the Tour de France.

We arrived to our AirBNB on Friday. Well, we had to wait for a cow herd to cross the road. It was such a cute, quaint cabin in the middle of a small village in France.

After we settled in, we drove into the next village that was a little bigger for dinner. Steve had ham with mushroom sauce and fries, I had a salad, and the kids had the cutest “rabbit” pizza. Also, in several villages in France, they have pizza vending machines. We didn’t eat at one, but it was very interesting.

Before heading back to the cabin, we went on a hunt for supplies to make smores. (By the way, smores are a uniquely American thing. I have only been able to find marshmallows and graham crackers at the Commissary on post) We were able to to find “marshmallows”, and cookies at a Lidl. We had already bought chocolate at a little market.

We went back, made a fire, played croquet, and ate what we nicknamed France smores, Smance.

The next morning, we headed to Pontarlier for the Tour de France. Watching them set up for all the riders was super cool.

We got to the town early to explore Pontarlier and take part of the Tour de France festivities. We stopped at one of the several “patisserie” in the town for breakfast and coffee.

At the entrance to the town the orginal fortification wall is still standing.

We visited the church, Eglise Saint-Benigne.

We walked the town and also had some delicious eclairs, which were decorated with yellow frosting and red polka dots for the Tour de France.

We then headed to the route for the Tour de France.

We were at the 1km left mark. It was so fun. There was a parade of the sponsors that were throwing out goodies into the crowd. We got lots of good loot.

Then, it was time for the riders to come through. It was one of the coolest experiences! They were riding so close you could reach out and touch them (although we didn’t for obvious reasons).

Before heading back to the cabin, we stopped at a “boucher” for meat, at a cheese shop for cheese, and a market for bread. We went back to the cabin and ate, played bocce ball, made a fire (along with wood cutting practice), and played a Dungeons and Dragons campaign created by Bo, which included some of our favorite American snacks only purchasable at the Commissary.