Greenwich à la française

After the end of the race, we entertained ourselves by pretending we were in France. A number of stalls were set up selling pastries, cakes, bread, sausages, cheese, crepes and olives, as well as Tour de France memorabilia. They were all hugely popular with the punters, who liked nothing more than being able to buy food that's fresh and tasty (something not always possible in London) without having to shell out for a Eurostar ticket. There were several French people around and many that weren't French but did their best to look the part, sporting stripy T-shirts and carrying their baguettes with real pizzazz. The atmosphere had a certain je ne sais quoi that you don't see in Greenwich on a regular Sunday.

I hovered around the stalls taking photos and couldn't help but notice that the pains au chocolat were the first go. I didn't have any, but can report that the boules de campagne and the pains aux raisins were really yummy!

Tick tock one day to go!

I've just watched the trailer for the new Harry Potter firm, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is being released in the UK tomorrow. It looks really good, much more exciting than the previous films, and I can't wait!

You can watch the trailer here.

Any more Harry Potter fans out there?

Zooooooom!

Fifteen minutes before the tour was due to depart Greenwich for Canterbury, I joined the crowds patiently waiting to cheer the cyclists on. The event was much more popular than I thought it'd be - I had to walk for a good 10 minutes along the route before I could find a little gap to squeeze in without having to climb on anything, stand on one foot or crouch.

At 11 AM on the dot, a colourful pack of 189 riders zooooooooomed past in no more than 10 seconds. They were followed by the distinctive team cars with spare bikes on their roofs, and a selection of cyclists who (I'm told) aren't competing, but simply follow the tour for fun.

The whole thing was over in just a few minutes and I think the crowd were stunned. The main event for which Londoners line the streets is the London marathon, and that goes on for hours on end. We weren't quite prepared for the speed of cycling, and standing so close to the start line certainly didn't help.

Oh well, I'll know to go further away next time!

Click here for more photos from Stage One.

Greenwich en Fête and the red giraffes

Curiosity got the better of me on Sunday morning (good job I'm not a cat) and I headed for Greenwich, where the first stage of the Tour de France would depart from. Having stood around the streets of London for a few hours the day before, I felt I'd seen enough men in lycra to last me another few years, by which time the Tour de France might return to London anyway. Then I thought, perhaps it won't, or perhaps next time it will be pouring with rain or freezing cold, so I'd better enjoy it now when the weather's glorious - a minor miracle, as we've not had two days as lovely as last weekend for over a month.

What I didn't know (and would have sped up the decision process no end if I had known) was that Greenwich was attempting to inject some real Tour de France flavour into the day by hosting Greenwich en Fête, an event with street performers and an open-air picnic with a French twist. As I got out of the train station, I came face-to-face with this:


No, we'd not been taken over by funny-shaped aliens. The red giraffes are the trademark of street-theatre group Compagnie Off, which combines circus and opera to create stunning street performances. This one is an animal operetta aptly named Les Girafes.


The performance certainly is spectacular, but what's most impressive is that the giant giraffes and the revolving stand are all manually operated by the troupe. Quite literally, they were pulling the strings that made it all happen.


I know I often complain that my job sucks, but there is worse out there. I mean, really, would you like to be them? I know I wouldn't.


Particularly when I saw what happens if a giraffe topples over. Thankfully, I don't think anyone was hurt, but what a bump that must have been!

Bonjour

Since I'm still in Tour de France mode, how about a French-style breakfast? You can't beat café crème served with croissants - unless it's served with croissants, pains au chocolate, freshly squeezed orange juice, yoghurt, fresh bread and Bon Maman jam :-)

Bon appetit!

Allez allez!

For the first time in its 104-year history, the Tour de France came to London this weekend. Luckily enough, the wet and miserable weather of the last couple of weeks appears to have eased off, so the 500,000 people that filled the streets to watch the prologue this morning were able to enjoy some beautiful (and much-awaited) sunshine. Thank God for that, as it could so easily have been a washout.

For the dedicated sun-seekers, it was possible to watch the race from the comfort of a lounger, as there were big screens dotted around London's parks.


This being a major world event, and the anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings, there was a lot of police around - both British and the French Gendarmerie, who looked quite impressive arriving en masse at Whitehall.


First, the sponsors' floats and random cyclists went through London.


Then the prologue (individual time trial) started at 3 pm. It was almost impossible to take decent pictures as the cyclists were literally wizzing past, competing for the top place and the maillot jaune - the leader's yellow jersey, which was won by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. You can see more photos here.


I wish I had a flat right on the route of the prologue, as this guy does. It's much more civilised than standing around on the sidelines.


Stage 1 will take place tomorrow with a 203km sprint & climb between Greenwich and Canterbury. Allez allez and good luck to all!

Mmmm noodles!

I love Chinese food. I didn't always eat it, as it wasn't exactly popular where I grew up. I was introduced to it by Del, my Singaporean pen-friend. She came to visit me in Athens some 15 years ago, and was amazed that I'd never tried it despite the fact that there was a Vietnamese restaurant just a couple of blocks from my flat. We arranged to eat there one evening and I still remember what we had: shark fin soup, nem (Vietnamese spring rolls), sweet & sour chicken and szechuan beef. That meal obviously made an impression on me, as I usually can't remember what I ate yesterday, let alone half a lifetime ago.


I was hooked that evening, and went back to that restaurant time and time again with my friends, trying different dishes each time. It wasn't always a success - we once famously attempted to eat some bamboo skewers (the waiter almost collapsed in laughter and I'm pretty sure he cried too). In our defence, the skewers were small and thin, and we'd heard you could eat bamboo, only we didn't know the difference between bamboo shoots and bamboo sticks. We got the hang of it eventually.


These days I have Chinese food at least once a week, and often cook it at home. I love noodles. To me, they're the ultimate comfort food (well, except for chocolate I suppose). It was exactly what we needed today, as it's been cloudy and wet and not like summer at all. To cheer ourselves up we had lunch at our favourite noodle house, one of these places with the long tables and benches that became popular by "asian inspired" noodle restaurant chain Wagamama. "Our" noodle house is part of a much smaller and modest chain called Tai Won Mein, but it serves the best Chinese noodle dishes at very reasonable prices. The portions are huge too, which is brilliant if you've skipped breakfast, as we had. I had a mixed noodle soup (yum!), hubby had beef in black bean sauce, and we shared fried squid and spring rolls. As you can see, we polished it all off - and now feel a little less depressed about summer not making an appearance today.