Last Day In Paris

Our last day in Paris was supposed to be a leisure bike tour around the city followed by a free afternoon and evening. Most of today was not leisurely and relaxing to say the least. This morning, a small group of us decided to get up really early and try to go day one of the French Open! We were all super excited to see some great tennis! We met down at breakfast at 6:30am and left for Roland Garros at about 7am. Once we got there, we were nearly first in line (or the queue as it is known in Europe) to buy tickets. We were expecting that tickets opened up for sale at 8am because that is what Courtney had been told when she went to the Charity Day of the French Open yesterday. That didn’t turn out to be the case however. We definitely got the run-around by the French security guards, and it was obvious that no one really knew what they were talking about so we decided to wait it out. Who knows, maybe they’d change their minds?! A French lady who also spoke excellent English told us that she has gone to the French Open the past 5 years, and every year it’s the same old thing; saying they don’t have tickets and opening up the queue at about 9:30am or 10. That alone gave us loads of hope that we would get to see what we came for!


Unfortunately for us, the one of the directors of ticketing for the whole tournament came over to our line and was very polite when he told us that they really were not selling tickets at the venue today. Apparently all the tickets were sold online this year and nothing would be available at the venue because all the days were already sold out. The French lady then informed our little American grouping that this was a political move by the French tennis federation, because the French lady then informed our little American grouping that this was a political move by the French tennis federation, because for years they have been trying to get the French Open moved to a bigger venue but have faced tough opposition. They figured if they could post all their tickets for sale online and then sell out in advance, they would have people waiting at the gate (just like we were), who get locked out. This way they can go to the board and say, “Look! There were all these people that couldn’t get in this year that wanted to. We need a bigger venue.” It’s all very political and not something I wanted to be a part of. Basically, our group became involuntary martyrs in this situation for the French tennis federation.

We finally gave up and left at about 10:15am. By this time everyone else was already on their Fat Tire Bike Tour around Paris. I’m really bummed that I didn’t get to go, especially since the French Open thing turned out to be a wash. So I just went back to the hotel room for about 3 hours or so, journaled some, relaxed, and uploaded facebook photos. I tried to meet up with a few groups of people, but I didn’t want to ride the Metro by myself and try to meet up with them using only the limited cell phone service between us.
Instead I went down to the lobby and happened to see Lindsey, and we decided to head to the Champs Elysess, because I hadn’t been yet. The arch was pretty, but honestly it was kind of ruined by the fact that boulevard itself was closed down and became a pedestrian madhouse due to some farmers protest thing. At last estimate I heard that there was somewhere near 2 MILLION people on the Champs Elysess boulevard this afternoon. It took us nearly 20 minutes from when we exited the Metro car underground to get up the stairs and reach ground level. We were packed in like sardines, and honestly I felt very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. We walked down the shops along the street for an hour or two, but I didn’t buy anything. After my Longchamp bag yesterday, I’m set for the rest of Paris.  haha.

We came back to the hotel at around 5:45, ate a snack for dinner, and then I left to go to Mont Parnasse with a large group of people from our trip. Mont Parnasse is the tallest skyscraper in France, and you’re allowed to go to the top and view the city for only 8 Euros. I liked this idea better than going up the Eiffel Tower, because I want the Eiffel Tower in my view, not me on it. We went up to the top, although they wouldn’t let us bring our wine, and admired the city at dusk. Paris is a gorgeous city when you soak it all in through one view.


Tomorrow morning is going to come way too soon. We board the coaches at 7:15am and start driving towards Avignon where we stay for the night. Then it’s onto Nice, and oh man will that be nice. ;)