Rain, rain, rain

Today we could not avoid the rain. I finally got mid-afternoon tickets to the Open which you have to buy the day before so it is a crap shoot. We planned to visit the Paris Modern museum before tennis. It is located on Rue de President Wilson and the permanent collection is free to tour. It is a small collection but the Matisse pictured below is very large and very stunning. The room was constructed for this piece and its companion which is the "test" work.

Matisse - The Dancers

 While waiting for the rain to hopefully let up, we sat at a cafe with heated outdoor seating. It was fun to relax and watch the people go by. I decided this woman waiting for the bus with the fashionable coat, pants, boots and umbrella kind of represented the day.

We did make it to Roland Garros where play was suspended. The rain let up long enough for play to resume but then it started up again. They continued to play in the light right. The line judge (wearing the red jacket) in the picture was not happy with the court referee that he had to sit in the rain and judge. What about the players?!

This match ended and we were going to stay for the next but I wanted to get up. We both did some souvenir shopping then while deciding which court to go to next, the skies opened up big time. I didn't have my rain poncho so we stood under an awning for the longest time.

It finally let up a bit but I surmised that they were not going to resume play so we left. The plan was to get to Paris Opera to see ballet but there were just too many people trying to get to the Metro and it took us longer than expected. By the time we arrived, the performance had started and there was no way to get late seating.

Memorial Day in Paris

Today was Memorial Day in the United States and I wanted to honor our soldiers. There is an American cemetery just outside of Paris in Suresnes. After wondering around the train station for several minutes (there were two Starbuck coffee shops), I finally found an information desk that knew where to point us.

We took the short train ride to Suresnes and climbed the hill to this beautiful spot. It was a gorgeous day. The American in charge of the memorial, Angelo Munsel, was so so nice. The memorial service had been on Sunday so there was no one there except us and Angelo.

 The views from the memorial and an overlook which is at the bottom of the site are fantastic. You can see all of Paris.

By the time we made it back into Paris via the tram and walking across the Seine, it was time for evening tennis. We got into Court No. 3 to see Chris' favorite player, Francesca Schiavone.  It was a good match. Franny won in two straight sets.

After Franny's match, we went to another with Rhyne Williams, an American. He lost a long match with a Polish player.  That was it for evening tennis. We came back to our neighborhood and had dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant with fabulous French table wine.