Tour de France: Stage 1: Strasbourg
July 4th 2006 00:51
Hi guys. Sorry about the delay of the post. I have learnt a lesson though. When you go away on holidays, don’t leave someone else in charge of putting up your posts. It will have disastrous consequences!!!!! So, here are the posts for the last two days…
Bonjour tout le monde
(Hi guys)
Now I can say, the Tour de France starts officially tonight with the first stage starting and ending in the town of Strasbourg. As I said yesterday (in my Stage P post), today's first stage is 185 kilometres long.
Now for a little info on Strasbourg…
Strasbourg is a truly international city and can be found in the Rhine basin on the Franco-German border (meaning the border between France and Germany). I never realised this, but Strasbourg is really SPORTS MAD!!!!! Maybe even more than Australia (if that's possible). This one city supports 220 sporting associations and 66 registered sports. And that's just the one city.
Then there's the cycling. Strasbourg has more than just the Tour de France. It has 430 kilometres of cycling track. There are plans on the drawing board to add ten kilometres of bike tracks every year! That’s what I call a commitment to cycling!!! Moreover, by 2007, approximately 900 bicycle shelters will be built so more people can access the TGV. [The very fast train which travels between cities]
Flag of Strasbourg (image is public domain and can be found at wikipedia.org)
But, Strasbourg is a dynamic city with a focus on more than just cycling. It is a European city and is France’s second most important diplomatic centre (behind Paris of course), with 70 embassies in the city. It is home to the headquarters of quite a few important organisations, including the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.
As well, Strasbourg is the cultural capital of the region, hosting several operas and a Philharmonic orchestra.
That’s the end of the whirlwind tour of Strasbourg. I will revisit this fantastic city later (after the Tour)
À demain
Melinda
P.S for udated tour info, check out the Tour's official site and wikipedia
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