so due to the time of our train to Barcelona/some inaccurate information from a roadie for L'Equipe, we only ended up seeing around 10 minutes of the team time trial yesterday in Montpellier (ie. we saw 2 teams ride out. note that this was after waiting for 4 hours). unfortunately, we also have very little photographic evidence of having seen any cycling at all, because when the teams depart, they go very, very fast. we were within 100 m of the starting arch, and they were past us seconds after starting. it was ridiculously cool - Kat and I were both blown away by how quickly the cyclists reached their top speeds. we have pictures of several Caisse d'Epargne- and Katusha-coloured blurs, but the only ones we have of actual people on bikes are from their warm-up rides.

swag count from Montpellier (related sponsors in brackets): white bucket hats (Skoda), reflective snap bracelets (Festina), sausage samples (Cochonou), and a packet of laundry soap (sponsor uncertain). there was a whole lot more that we didn't get; people get very grabby when they're waiting, and sometimes it's best to pick your battles. we did get promotional newspapers with a list of the riders organized by team and number, which was handy. sadly, we did not get any of the umbrella hats that another sponsor was distributing. bummer.

and then we caught a train to Barcelona, which would have been quite nice if it weren't for the crying children, the mysterious police presence at the borders, and the seats in front of us that weren't attached properly and kept swinging towards us at an ominous angle. this morning we visited Gaudi's Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, which I loved but Kat was not so crazy about. tomorrow we will watch the Tour arrive at the Estadi Olímpic - finally we will get to see how something turns out! apparently the stage that started in Marseille ended quite dramatically, but we had no idea until we were waiting for it to start in Montpellier and some friendly Australians recapped it for us. yesterday's stage was also very exciting (a tie for first! it's madness!), but that we only know from checking the internet, so we are very excited to see the end of tomorrow's stage. ¡hasta luego! (so I'm really excited about all of the fancy punctuation on this keyboard. so what? it's just so much easier to use than the French ones ...)