Here in Colombia, we have Tour de France fever. 23-year old Nairo Quintana won second place. The best showing by a Colombian ever.
The sight of over a hundred, neon-wearing cyclists circling historic Paris during the Tour’s final stage was exciting but also uncanny. It reminded me of poet Charles Baudelaire running into a swan while walking by the Louvre back in 1857.
He wrote about it in his poem ‘The Swan’, dedicated to Victor Hugo (so French!). Above is one my favorite passages from the poem. Below is a translation by William Aggeler.
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- Quintana breaks through in debut to take Colombia’s biggest Tour de France success (velonation.com)
- Flowers of Evil (danieljdavis.wordpress.com)
- Inspiration for Wednesday: Charles Baudelaire (atavicpoetry.wordpress.com)
- Book of a lifetime: Le Spleen de Paris, By Charles Baudelaire (independent.co.uk)
- The Flaneur (paulwalshphotographyblog.wordpress.com)
- The albatros ( translation of Baudelaire) (psychologypathology.com)