Tennis anyone?

Enjoying the day at Roland Garros

Game, set, match . . . sounds a bit different in French!  On Friday I had a chance to visit the Annex courts at the French Open and see some exciting tennis matches.  My Brit friend had gotten us tickets and the two of us spent the day bopping from one court to the next.  We saw part of both a mens singles match and a womens singles match, in addition to both mens doubles and mixed doubles matches.  It was a warm and sunny day, perfect for experiencing such a quintessentially French event at an iconic place like Roland Garros (a first for both of us)!

When we sat down to watch the mens doubles game below, we decided to look at the program to find out what country each player was from.  For some reason, we couldn't decipher if AUS was Austria or Australia...My Brit friend came up with a funny way of asking the AUS player, something like, "G'Day mate are you from Austria by any chance?"  haha!

Umm... guess you had to be there.  Anyways, the players were very cute and so was the Chair Umpire!  Ahh ice cream and cute boys playing tennis.  Can I go again, please?

Oh, and least I forget, after lunch I swear I had a "French soft serve ice cream" that was the size of my HEAD!  I'm not even exaggerating, this thing was HUGE and sooo good!  My friend took a picture of me eating it, which sadly I do not have, but will post if I get it.  We were both extremely impressed that I a) finished the whole thing and b) didn't spell any of it on myself.  At the end of the afternoon I even started to feel like a champion (albeit, one with a killer stomach ache)!

On the way back towards the metro, we decided to pop by this old pool turned event space that I had just read about the day before.  Basically, the story goes a lot like that of the McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn, Nike turned an old art deco municipal pool that had been closed for years into "The Club" (an event space and tennis courts) to market to young people during the French Open.  The indoor/outdoor facilities are very close to Roland Garros and were really cool to check out.  I loved all of the graffiti and the space itself is the perfect place for events with even bigger crowds, if the city decides to go the route of McCarren (before it was scheduled to be turned back into a pool).  I definitely felt like I wasn't in Paris...

It's great to go out to the outer arrondissements of Paris and feel like you've left the city for the day.  I'm totally motivated now, so watch out for when I get back and start asking you to go to Queens with me!

xx