Roland Garros
Jun 15th, 2014 by willmarks
From Normandy, we drove the lovely Renault Kangoo back to Paris to meet Dad, who had been with us in Barcelona for a few days, but chose to skip Normandy, given a previous visit. His nice little hotel, Hôtel Sèvres Saint Germain, was well located around the corner from our not so nice airbnb apartment at 81 Rue de Sèvres in the 6th. We picked Papa up and found Le Bistrot Landais, on Rue du Cherche-Midi, not bad but far from a dining recommendation.
On Saturday morning, the metro put us directly at Roland Garros, for the 3rd round of the French Open. The grounds were packed, and we made our way to Court Suzanne Lenglen, where we would spend much of the day watching 4 singles matches.
First, we saw the 15th seeded American, Sloane Stephens easily top the 22nd seed, Ekaterina Makarova from Russia, 6-3, 6-4.
Next, the velocity was turned up a notch (these girls crushed the ball), with the 23rd seed, Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic, defeating the 11th seeded Serbian, Anna Ivanovic, 6-3, 6-3.
After lunch, Dad treated the kids to Roland Garros hats…
On to the men, and the French crowd went crazy for the native, Gael Monfils, the 23rd seed, who upset the 14th seeded Italian hothead, Fabio Fognini, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. Monfils seemed to expire completely during the fourth set, and he eventually handed the last few games to Fognini, in order to save energy for set number 5. Then Monfils somehow found the body, mind, and heart to reverse the momentum; the Italian’s temper helped Monfils’ cause (Fognini lost a point/game after throwing his racket) and Monfils prevailed in a perfect demonstration of why tennis success is due to a combination of physical and mental ability.
Next up was the 7th seed, Andy Murray, who was paired with the 28th seeded German, Philip Kohlschreiber. We only had time for the 1st set, which Kohlschreiber seemed to win handily, 6-3. Still, we learned later that Murray had prevailed, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 12-10, with the lengthy match extending into the next day.
It was a special treat to have Dad (Papa) visit, but we were sad that Mom could not make the trip.
Back in Paris, we met our Barcelona neighbors (one floor below on Calle Josep Bertrand), the Sullivans, for Ella’s birthday dinner at Vagenende Brasserie, which served delicious steaks, not to mention the crab and avocado appetizer, as well as profiteroles; envision the wonderful problem of too much warm dark chocolate to pour on top of your perfect cream-filled pastry treats…
On Sunday, Ella’s actual birthday, June 1, she awoke to macaroons.
We grabbed a late breakfast at Cafe Le Bonaparte.
…and then our business school friend, Yves Hannania, made some croissants for us at his well decorated apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Our cab driver dropped us off at Place de la Concorde, and we found the trampolines in the Tuileries.
We took a walk along the Seine; I agree with Dad that walking through Paris should make anyone happy…
…lunch at Le Recrutement Cafe (fair food, agreeable atmosphere) in the 7th on Boulevard de la Tour-Maubourg, and a final stroll, past the nearby Les Invalides.
Au revoir!
This post makes me so happy for many reasons, being in Paris is only one of them. I am thrilled that your Dad was able to visit while you guys were in Europe. What a wonderful treat!!
We were lucky to have hım there thank you!