Tennis Anyone?

The weekend after we got home from Croatia, we headed to Paris to watch some tennis at Roland Garros aka The French Open (apparently no one in France calls it the French Open, just like they don't call fries, French fries, they simply say fries).  Travers had done a 48-hour trip to SF between Croatia and Paris, so he didn't get to Paris until early Saturday morning. I was able to get there on Friday night and meet our two friends, Mary and Angie, who had gotten there the night before.  After checking into the hotel, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the St. Germain area for dinner. Angie had made us a reservation at Peres et Filles, where we each had a delicious Parisian bistro dinner followed by a nice stroll through the neighborhood.

The next morning, Travers arrived and we immediately headed out for a quick breakfast before taking the metro to Roland Garros.  The area was filled with people and as we walked through the grounds, in certain areas, you could hear the ping, ping, ping of a tennis ball being hit back and forth, usually followed by an applause or cheer when the play would end.  There were a few large screens set up so those that didn't have tickets to the main courts (us) could still watch the matches.  Once we got our bearings, we found our way onto one of the lower courts and wiggled into a few seats that were just a row or two from the court.  We had made it just in time to see the Brian brothers play a doubles match. If you don't know, the Brian brothers
(twins) are American doubles players who went to Stanford and as of August 5, have held the World number 1 doubles ranking jointly for 323 weeks, which is longer than anyone else in doubles history! It was amazing to see them play, being able to cheer for some Americans and knowing they went to school just around the corner from where I grew up! And of course, they won the match!










The Brian brothers' match was followed by a men's singles match, which was followed by a women's singles match. We watched all three matches, moving seats each time to get the best view and only risking going to the bathroom once as it was a risk as to whether you would be let back in or not.

After several hours at the court, we finally decided to call it a day, so we left our seats, which were immediately taken by others waiting by, and headed out to do a final walk through the grounds before heading back to the hotel.

That evening, we headed back out to the St. Germain area for a pre-dinner cocktail at Cafe Mabillon, followed by another delicious dinner at Le Pub. Our stomachs full, we headed out to enjoy the nightlife and made some new friends along the way.

Sunday morning we slept in as long as we could, grabbed a late breakfast at Cafe Montparnasse, followed by a stroll towards the Eiffel Tower before catching the train back to Geneva. It was a whirlwind of a trip but we saw some great tennis, made some fun friends, and got to experience a new part of Paris!