I hadn’t given much thought to the Tour de France prior to moving to Europe, but after catching snippets in several Olhão bars and cafes back in 2022, my curiosity was piqued. I started with the Netflix show Tour de France: Unchained (I highly recommend it), and was shocked at how nuanced and complicated this team sport is. Although I have zero interest in becoming a bicyclist beyond the rare, casual, flat ride, I quickly became an interested viewer and easily found favorite teams and pro riders. Every July I watched a bit more of the Tour de France, and last month, for the first time, I tuned in every day for the entire 3 weeks.

Although it was a commitment to lots of TV, each day was entertaining and enjoyable. Different stages bring various challenges from weather to road conditions to the unavoidable crashes. Some days are suited to sprinters, others to mountain climbers. One of my favorite things is to catch glimpses into the interaction between team managers and bicyclists via their radio communications. The ups and downs of who is wearing the yellow jersey or fighting for the King of the Mountain title on any given day provides an ongoing narrative like a movie or a book.

I wanted to multi-task a bit throughout the 3 weeks, so I tried to also do boring things like fold laundry and iron some clothes (ugh, does everyone detest this chore as much as I do?) while I watched the race. I didn’t want to commit to all work and no play, so Andrew and I took the opportunity to unpack our partially completed Harry Potter Diagon Alley LEGO set. We had completed half of the buildings in the States before moving, and although we packed them up to the best of our ability, we had some repair work to do. After reassembling Ollivander’s Wand Shop, Scribbulus, Quality Quidditch Supplies, and the Daily Prophet, we moved on to our brand new buildings.

We didn’t work on LEGOS every day of the race, but when we did, we assembled 1 bag per day. Brick by tiny brick, we added Flourish & Botts, Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, Weazley’s Wizard Wheezes, and Knockturn Alley.

Diagon Alley is our very first big LEGO set and it is gorgeous. There are tons of nooks and crannies filled with fun details, beautiful stickers add so much personality, and if you love all things HP, you would really appreciate this set. I predict more LEGOS in our future, hopefully something large and impressive from the Star Wars universe. Maybe Christmas 2025 will have more tiny bricks in store for us!