Tour de France Flyby & 3D World Cup

Sunday, July 11 2010 


After all the chaos of moving our stuff out to Jaime’s, we were ready for the fun.  We were able to enjoy two great events on Sunday, (which is why there was so much urgency to move on Saturday).  1) The Tour de France was riding through just a few miles from Geneva.  2) We were invited by a Dutch co-worker to watch the World Cup Final in 3D.

The tour was quite the spectacle.  About 1.5 hours before the riders came through, the “carivane” drove by.  Just picture an American parade, only ten times faster and stranger.  It was a different approach to a parade but had the same result-– spectators standing on the side of the road watching decorated vehicles go by and avoiding items thrown at their face.  You can watch the video (below) to get an idea (if you listen closely you'll hear Dave and a friend from work both get hit by laundry detergent).  After all the anticipation and waiting, the riders finally came…and went in about 15 seconds (video below).  The experience cemented our initial thoughts that we would never vacation to France primarily to see the Tour, but it was worth the few hours on a Sunday to check out.

After the tour, we made our way to the Balexert movie theater to watch the World Cup.  We were told this was the first time that soccer (or perhaps any sports match) was broadcasted live in 3D.  The experience was extremely unique.  The camerawork was great, complete with close-ups and slow motion, and the ambiance was very real because there was only the sound of the stadium (no TV commentary).  Someone even brought, and unfortunately used, a vuvuzela (the red, plastic, medieval-looking trumpets).  Sadly the Dutch were defeated in a somewhat controversial game, but it was still fun to watch.  On our trip back home we witnessed much celebration by the Spanish (video below), which lasted all night (we didn’t sleep very well)… all part of the experience of living in an international city.