Tag: Roland Garros

Roland Garros

When I was in my early teens, my mother signed me up for tennis lessons. She loved tennis; had played it all her life, and couldn’t image a growing girl not including tennis in her daily routines (along with French and poetry). She also probably didn’t imagine a slightly overweight girl who, at that point in her life, lumbered along like a limping bull in a china shop, as her eldest daughter. I had no interest in anything my mother suggested and exercise of any sort scared me as I was no good at it.

So tennis has never been much on my radar. Those who know me know I love baseball. Living in France, I’ve come to appreciate, enjoy, and want to learn more about futbol/soccer. And not just from Ted Lasso. Of course, one can’t live in Paris without being hyper aware of the French Open known in France as Roland Garros. My friend, Barbara, bought tickets for my birthday in 2020. Ah, 2020 when all life was cancelled.

Court Philippe-Chatrier

Yesterday, after living in Paris for 9.5 years, I went to my first Roland Garros experience. You can have a ticket to a match but that is only part of the fun. And it is FUN! I went with three friends. They’d bought two tickets to the day matches at Court Phillippe-Chatrier and two tickets to the day matches at Court Suzanne-Lenglen. We agreed that we would switch back and forth seeing as many of the matches as possible. The four of us met up at a café at Auteuil. We walked into the Roland Garros complex at 11 am. I’m not sure how one can live so close to RG (I live a 20-minute walk away) and not realize how large and grand it is. “The 13.5-hectare (34-acre) complex contains twenty courts, including three large-capacity stadiums; Les Jardins de Roland Garros, a large restaurant and bar complex; Le Village, the press and VIP area; France’s National Training Centre (CNE); and the Tenniseum, a bilingual, multimedia museum of the history of tennis.”-Wikipedia.

Sara at Philippe-Chatrier before it filled up.

Pete and Mike headed for the match at S. Lenglen. Meg and I walked around. Meg knows the complex like the back of her hand. She showed me everything including where we were going to go sit, Philippe-Chatrier, to watch the match between fan favorite, Caroline Garcia and no.56 seeded Anna Blinkova (whose country wasn’t listed. This is the only way the Russian and Belarus players are allowed to play). Before we went in, we sat on the green watching a match between Greek Tsitsipas and Spaniard Baena. Large orange folding chairs were set up for comfort.

These games were the second round for both the men and the women. It was only four days into Roland Garros with another week and a half to go. But the atmosphere was electric. It reminded me of Play-off games in baseball. Plus, Paris was experiencing glorious weather. Not a cloud in the sky. 78o/24C. Even though I didn’t play tennis, it would have been impossible to get through my childhood without learning something. I knew most of the rules; game, set, match. Best of three for the women, best of five for the men. For singles games, outside the inner white line was out. For doubles, outside the outer white line was out. What I didn’t know was that there are three line judges at each end for the vertical lines, two line judges in the middle for the horizontal lines, and the judge who sits up above just like a lifeguard who rules over everything. I turned to Mike at one point and asked “Is this like baseball? Whatever the judge says is what it is? Whether it is or isn’t?” Yes,…however starting next year, it will all be digitalized. No more human judges, no more human error. Human error is part of baseball. I was once told by another baseball fan when I was outraged by an umpire’s bad call that lost a pitcher a ‘perfect game’, that it isn’t just perfect for the pitcher. It also has to also be perfect for the umpires. Oh! (and just for the record, I wasn’t satisfied. That explanation did not make up for the dramatic letdown for both pitcher and fans).

Fan favorite, French player Caroline Garcia who lost in the second round.

Another surprise was the noise. I had always been told that tennis games were played in absolute silence. If you talked to your neighbor, it was a whisper. Not so at Roland Garros. the fans cheered their favorite. They clapped loudly when they wanted to encourage a player. Musical instruments appeared in the crowds like whales jumping out of the sea and played the Marseillaise or something that the fans could smile at, rout with, and encouraged the players. Mike, who is British, assured me this was not done at Wimbledon. 

Pete and Meg

Truthfully, I thought that since I didn’t know most of the players and wasn’t a tennis fan, I would want to leave after a couple of hours. Wrong. Oh, how wrong! Tennis is a wonderful game. Do you hear that Mom? I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you. I watched every hit. Both Mike and Meg told me that if you didn’t have a favorite in the game, one cheers for the underdog. My father always said the same. Garcia, the French fan favorite seeded at #5, lost to the underdog. The fans weren’t happy. But other than a French player losing, it was the underdog all the way!

Mike and his son who came over from the UK.
Caroline Garcia

I guess I’m now a tennis fan! The next day I watched and listened to a couple of matches—one between the Italian Sinner and the German Altmaier which lasted five hours and twenty-nine minutes!! Both were exhausted. When the German won, he started to cry. The entire stadium stood up and cheered him on.

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A bientôt,

Sara

Bois de Boulogne

When I first moved to the 16th arrondissement (which is the most western part of Paris before one crosses the Périphérique), I wrote about the Bois de Boulogne. What I didn’t know about this amazing park would fill a book. “It is the second-largest park in Paris, slightly smaller than the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side of the city. It covers an area of 845 hectares (2088 acres),[2] which is about two and a half times the area of Central Park in New York, slightly larger than Phoenix Park in Dublin,[3] and slightly smaller than Richmond Park in London.”–Wikipedia. The 16th arrondissement is the largest arrondissement in Paris and goes from north to south on the west side of the Seine across from the Eiffel Tower. The Bois de Boulogne runs almost the same length but on the other side of the Périphériqe which is the ring road that circles Paris  and is made up of the busiest 35 kilometers in Europe, with around one and a half million vehicles per day.. From my apartment, I walk due west and after crossing over the Périphérique, I am in the Bois at the Porte de Passy.

The red line that goes between the two lakes is the Porte de Passy where I can enter the Bois de Boulogne.

When I first started walking in the Bois in 2017, I’d come in and walk around one of the lakes or both of the lakes. The upper lake, Lac Interior, has an island that sits in the center and houses a small Chalet. A small shuttle boat will take one over for tea or snacks. Further up, during the summer months, one can rent a row boat and leisurely row the length of the lake watching all the promenaders meander the dirt path that rings the lake, the loungers sitting by the shores having picnics, and the periodic wildlife depending on the season.

Rental of boats at the top of Lac Interior
Chateau in the Parc de Bagatelle

At the most western part of the Bois is the Parc Bagatelle which I just discovered this summer. I was on the phone with a friend talking about some of the gardens I’ve come to love and she asked me if I’d visited the formal rose garden in the Bois de Boulogne. Not only had I not visited it, I didn’t know it existed. So the next day, I set off to find this rose garden. “Bagatelle Park, located in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne, is one of the four poles of the botanical garden of the City of Paris. Created in 1775, the park and its castle were built in 64 days following a bet between Queen Marie-Antoinette and her brother-in-law the Comte d’Artois. Bagatelle Park is a place to walk and relax. In addition to gigantic trees and varied flora, small bridges, rocks, caves, mirrors and man-made waterfalls add charm and romance to the place. The 19th century Chinese pagoda is one of the park’s curiosities. The visitor especially admires a magnificent rose garden of 10,000 roses from 1,200 different species. The park regularly hosts exhibitions and events, and organizes classical music concerts in summer.“–official site of Tourism.

Peacock walking in Bagatelle, so friendly that s/he will just walk right up to you almost as if waiting to be petted!

Also during the summer, I received an invitation to attend a Gala at Le Pré Catalan, a very upscale restaurant (three michelin!)also in the Bois. The invite said it was next to the Shakespeare Garden. Again, another garden close to me that I’d never heard of. In my defence, two of the years I’ve lived here, we have been in some form of lockdown and when we weren’t, the motivation to go wandering wasn’t great. Now that France is leading the world in vaccination rates (over 90%), I feel safe to wander as I please, especially in areas that aren’t so crowded. So I set off to find the garden and the restaurant. Both are a thirty minute walk from my apartment.

One of the walking entrances to Le Pré Catelan

The Jardin de Shakespeare abuts the area that the Pré Catelan sits on. If one is sitting in the terrace area of the restaurant, it is easy to peek over the hedge and see parts of the large garden. I’m told that in non-pandemic times there is actually Shakespeare in the Park every summer. I found a ticket booth for the performances but was unable to find the stage itself.

Walking roads found all over Bois de Boulogne

Once I realised what a treasure trove of small parks, gems, lakes, waterfalls, and hiking areas was located so close to where I lived, I began to spend afternoons exploring, what to me, seemed like hidden gardens from classic old English children’s stories. I took endless photos. As reported in my blog from last week, the majority have refused to be uploaded. I keep getting a dialogue box saying there is no content. So I have borrowed from various sources to try and show the variety and possibilities found in this amazing park. I think my photos are far better.

Botanical gardens at the far south end of Bois de Boulogne
Roland Garros, which hosts the French Open every summer, is located near the Parc de Princes on the southern end of the Bois
La Grand Cascade in the Bois de Bologne in the suburbs of Paris, France.
The Chalet du Cycle in the Bois de Boulogne. Break of the cyclists in the wood, Belle Epoque. Painting by Jean Beraud (1849-1935), 1900. Carnavalet Museum, Paris (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

One can’t leave a discussion of the Bois without mentioning the Fondation Louis Vuitton. FLV, opened in 2014, in a building designed by the architect Frank Gehry. In order to promote artistic creation …….

I have visited LVF many times. At first, the building itself far acceded the curated expositions as the piece of art to ponder and contemplate. Then curious installations were placed in various parts of the building. Then the bi-yearly shows got more interesting. But always, it was the wandering in the bowels of the building which looked like the innards of a ship that caught my attention. At first, I couldn’t understand why something so modern would be placed in one of the oldest parts of Paris. From only one spot, can one see the Eiffel Tower. It is much easier to see the modern buildings of La Défense. I would emerge from these early trips onto the Mahatma Gandhi road and have to shake my head, get my bearings, and remember that I was in Paris, France. I have fallen in love with the structure. It is fascinating in its endless ways of coming and going, its areas of pure light to deep, deep dark. It comfortably embraces and houses installations that one can stand and look at for hours. They mean nothing in the historical sense of representation. But the fact of their existence, the curiosity pulled out of every visitor to learn more, and more often than not, just to stand and let one’s senses take over and appreciate, that is the point.

Fondation Louis Vuitton which opened Fall of 2014 sits in the middle upper half of the Bois de Boulogne.

I’m sure I will return to various areas of this piece of heaven as the seasons pass. For the time being, it’s enough that I got a blog up and am accepting that I had to use photos from others sources. And you, dear reader, I hope acceptance is in your vocabulary as we continue to battle the many questions and often answers we don’t like of Covid-19. I get my Booster shot tomorrow. Fingers crossed for no side-effects.

A bientôt,