Day 7 – Paris Day 2 - Wednesday May 30th

Chris and I got up pretty early and headed straight for the Stade Roland Garros to watch the French Open. We saw two matches, Gasquet v. Vliegen and Chela v. Monfils.

I hadn’t heard of any of them, but the arenas were pretty crowded. The fans were really split for both players in each game, so we heard all sorts of chants and yells. Many of the people around us spoke English, and it was easy to get around and talk to people. We had lunch. I had a hot dog that was served on baguette and with weird tasting ketchup that was very good. We bought some Roland Garros tennis balls to have as souvenirs.

We made it back to the hotel at about 5:30 where I went with Dr. Evans, Dr. Turkett, and a girl to see a symphony play baroque style music, including Pachabel and others. I was blown away. The symphony was beyond talented, and performed in the Sainte Chapelle, the surroundings of the stained glass windows and the great acoustics made for a great setting. The violin player was especially gifted, and he added a lot of emotion to all of the pieces. We left through the Palais de Justice where apparently there had been protestors all day outside. I only saw two, but security was very tight.

We ate at a small diner type place that had free wi-fi. The food wasn’t very good, but the service was excellent and free wi-fi meant I could borrow a GPS and check my mail. The ice cream they had was incredible.

We headed back on the metro and I called it a night. I had had a long day even though I spent most of it watching tennis matches. It was already making me sad that I had to leave in only a day.