Yesterday I took the train to Monaco and went to one of my old haunts: the offices I used to work in. They’re on Boulevard Princesse Charlotte, which is where the Tour de France passed yesterday for the Prologue. I sat on a curb bump at the Livestrong ads, since they made a nice solid background, as opposed to smaller and more colorful ads. This was my general view. All of my photos from the Prologue are in this set.

My vantage point did indeed make for some great photos. The one posted here is my favorite — the rider is Arnaud Coyot. I did, of course, also get Lance Armstrong, but he lowered his head. His fiche coureur (rider stats) put him in tenth place currently. Another favorite is this shot of rider Bernhard Eisel, who rounded the corner near the railway station while I was walking there to take a train back to Nice. Japan has two riders in this year’s Tour, and this photo of Fumiyuki Beppu is one I’m really happy with — you can tell how the solid yellow advertisement makes all the difference with these. Currently in eleventh place, Gustav Larsson has a great tattoo on his left calf.

In just a few minutes I’ll be leaving to watch the Tour on the Promenade des Anglais. I doubt I’ll get such good photos as yesterday’s, since the Promenade is flat, so riders will be going faster, and in groups rather than separately. But it’s certainly a neat experience to watch them!