Liege Bastogne Liege: A Prelude to the Tour de France

What better way to kick off spring than to attend a professional cycle racing event?!   The Liege Bastogne Liege is a one day race that takes place in Belgium and is considered to be one of the five "monuments" for the European professional cycle circuit.

Looking at the course we opted to find a nice hill stage where we would have a good vantage of the riders as they made their way up a hill that I'm sure you and I could never attempt....without losing our lunch anyway.  So we made our way to the small village of Stavelot (coincidentally the same village we saw the Tour de France in 2010) and headed to the Cote de Stockeu, a nice 1 km climb with a pitch of around 12%.  Ouch.

The view from half-way up the hill looking down upon the village of Stavelot.

The beginning of the Cote de Stockeu.

Near the top....

....looking back down.....

It was not a long wait before the lead group arrived.

The race official....what is he doing, making sure they don't cut the course or something?!?  

The lead riders making the final push to the top...you can appreciate the pitch by the way they are standing up and swinging their bikes side to side for momentum....

This unlucky guy, Simone Geschke, crashed at the hair-pin corner at the bottom of the hill.  Note the huge gash above his right eye.  He's having a rough day.....

Shortly after and the Peloton arrived with the boys from Radio Shack Nissan in the lead (Andy Schleck 2nd from the right).  

Andy's brother Frank Schleck looked to have no problems with the hill......

I loved to see the look on the faces as they rounded the corner and saw the degree of pitch for the final push up the hill climb......

Of course you can tell where the leaders are by the helicopters hovering above.....

Immediately following the Peloton is the long steady stream of team cars.......

How appropriate: a bike designed by Eddy Merckx on the hill named after Eddy Merckx.

After the caravan passed we ventured up the road a bit to see the official "top".  

If you ever find yourself in or near the village of Stavelot, you will have to make your way up the Cote de Stockeu where you will find the statue paying tribute to the rider Eddy Merckx.  Just who is Eddy Merckx? He is a Belgian cyclist who is considered to be the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known.  During the late 60's and 1970's, he won both the Tour de France and Liege Bastogne Liege 5 times....in addition to a number of other famous races.    

A quick walk back down the hill and we were off.  Seeing professional cycling events in Europe has become a favorite pastime for us.  What other professional sport can you get close to the action without buying a ticket?  It's addicting really.  Our next race.....Tour of Luxembourg perhaps in June?  For certain the Tour de France.  One event I am sad to have missed was Carnival this past February in the village of Stavelot.  Not only do you witness thousands of people dressing up in white robes with masks that display large, red noses.....but they go around the crowds and flog the attendees with pork bladders!  Sounds like a hoot of a party......

Nuremberg and Prague

Shortly after dropping the Black family off at the airport we met up with Andrea's step-brother Kyle who was touring around Europe during his spring break.  The fun all started when I met Kyle in Amsterdam in what was determined to be 24+ hours of 'undocumented fun'.  No....red lights were not involved.  We did, however, manage to enjoy some great food and conversation with the locals during our brief stay.  Once we returned back to our house we undertook a few days of local sightseeing to the Mosel river valley and the wonderful city of Cologne.

Back in December while we were planning out the itinerary, somebody came up with the idea of traveling to Prague and running a half marathon.  Sure....why not?  Given that Prague is about a 6 hour drive from our place, we thought it would be fun to break up the drive by stopping at the city of Nuremberg, Germany.

Nuremberg dates back to the 11th century and was once considered the unofficial capital for the Roman Empire due the number of courts that met at the impressive Nuremberg Castle.  The city quickly became one of the two significant trade centers on the route from Italy to Northern Europe.  Unfortunately almost 90% of the medieval city center was destroyed during the air attacks of WWII and thus some of the massive buildings with the unique architecture were badly damaged.  I should point out that the city has done an incredible job in rebuilding some of these impressive structures back to their original designs and today you can hardly tell that they were once almost nearly destroyed.

Today Nuremberg is best known for a large Christmas Market (over one million shoppers attend each year).

Sadly our time in Nuremberg was limited to one evening and a few hours in the morning before we continued down the road.....but we were fortunate enough to walk around the city and snap a few pictures worthy of sharing:

The Farmers Market was just getting started.....it all looked delicious! 

Starbucks is everywhere....even in Nuremberg (right shore of the river below).

A few hours later we entered the city of Prague: the capital of the Czech Republic and the 14th largest city in the European Union.  I did not know that either.  Anyway, the city straddles the Vltava river and is thought to be approximately 1,100 years old.  Prague has always been a cultural, political, and economic center for central Europe.  The city grew during the Gothic and Renaissance eras and became the 'official' capital of the Roman Empire (no offense to our friends in Nuremberg).  The city of Prague and the Czech Republic have a long history of immense wealth, political dominance, and unfortunately, mighty wars.  The Czech Republic was part of the former Czechoslovakia until January 1993 when it was split into two countries (Slovakia being the other country).  Since the split Prague has become one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.....it is the 6th most-visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin.

Immediately after finding the hotel and checking in, we set out to explore the city with the goal of finding the race expo to retrieve our numbers for the race the following morning.  Walking around the city is something I highly recommend.  The unique architecture of the buildings and the general layout of the city is very cool.  

Looking across the river to the Prague Castle.

Rudolfinum music auditorium....and location for the start and finish of that half marathon.

Andrea and Kyle getting excited during the race expo.....or simply huddling together to stay warm. 

Oh yeah.....that will be us in the morning!  I imagine that guy is looking and thinking 'these people are nuts...'.  Yes, yes we are......

Want to learn how to speak Czech?  This is how you say 'Course Map'.  Good luck with the pronunciation....

With the race numbers obtained and goody bag in hand we set out to explore the city.  First stop, the Old Jewish Cemetery which I'm sorry to say we did not get to tour.  A picture of the yard was all we were able to take in.......

Looking down the street with the famous Charles Bridge in the background.  

The Church of Our Lady before Tyn.....it has been the main church in the Old Town since the 14th century.

The Astronomical Clock, installed originally in 1410, is the 3rd oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest still in working condition.

Of course we had to check out the Patagonia store......

The middle of Old Town....quite a funky place I must say....and I liked it! 

"Gaza Strip" mural by Blu 

A tribute to the Velvet Revolution, a peaceful protest that took place from November 17th until December 29th 1989 .

The following morning we were focused and ready to run our collective first international half marathon.

I must say that the scenery during the first half of the race was amazing, although difficult to appreciate....the navigation of the large cobblestones and train rails in the road were quite distracting.  We all managed to not roll an ankle and finished the race injury free.....and without losing our breakfast along the way.  Go team.

A long shower and short nap later and we were off to explore more of the city.  It wasn't long before we ran into this marching band coming down the middle of the street.  Um....ok.  Not sure for the occasion, but they sounded great.

The Powder Tower at night.

Old Town Square

One more of Old Town Square with the Astronomical clock on the left and  The Church of Our Lady before Tyn in the background.  

And just like that our time in Prague was over.  We could have used at least one more day to explore the city and visit the museums, but hey, we're not complaining.  Great food, cool sights, and lots of laughs.....it was a great trip.  We hope to return to Nuremberg and Prague someday soon to explore the sights we didn't see.....then again.....our list of places to visit is getting longer while our time here is getting shorter.  Gulp.