As Far As You Know

Beautiful weather and lingering daylight in the evenings have marked my time in Paris thus far. A few quick observations:

• It's amazing how much better public transport is in Europe than back Stateside. The Metro system here in Paris is fast, cheap, and convenient.
• Walking around with an iPod basically provides a soundtrack for exploring the world's great cities. I had The Streets in my ears while (whilst, as they would say) on the Tube in London the other day and was listening to Berlioz as I walked by Notre Dame yesterday.
• Dvorak keyboards are damned frustrating.
• Paris may be a movable feast, but it's expensive as hell to eat here.

On to Scotland . . .

I have finally made it to the French Open, the only one of the four majors I have not attended (before today). I've been to the Aussie Open twice and Wimbledon a half-dozen or so times, and made countless trips to the U.S. Open over the years. I have a ticket to Court Suzanne Lenglen today--the second show court--and grounds passes the next two days, but will be angling for a Court Chatrier ticket, depending on the order of play. Today, Novak Djokovic completed his victory and Venus Williams got drummed out of the singles. Up later is #3 Andy Murray.

Here's the view from my seat on Court Suzanne Lenglen: Venus Williams about to serve. Note the rust red color of the court with shades of green all around it--a pleasant tableau!

The red clay is a great surface on which to watch professional tennis players compete. Even a big server like Andy Roddick (pictured above) whose match I watched today had to construct points carefully and patiently. A-Rod advanced to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time ever, and did so with thoughtful change-ups, entailing short backhand slices to elicit errors from his opponent.

My favorite place to get a cheap bite in Paris is the crêperie in the Latin Quarter pictured above. It's on the corner of rue de la Harpe and Boulevard Saint-Germain. Had a delicious ham and cheese crepe for dinner tonight!

I slept last night and the night before with my window open to the Boulevard Montparnasse below and the sounds of the street. Where I am staying a busy commercial center (the view above is from my window) off one of the major Metro stops in Paris. But the city noise doesn't bother me nor keep me from sleeping. As someone who grew up in a small town, chose an even smaller town for college, and spent a lot of my childhood on my grandparents' farm out in the country, I seem to gravitate toward cities when I travel now. I feel comfortable walking the streets of urban jungles all around the world and like the bustle and array of cultural and other diversions available. And public transportation can't be beat, especially where it's well implemented, as is the case here in Paris.

Stopped at one of my favorite Parisian haunts on the Seine this morning, the English language bookstore Shakespeare And Company--a mecca for expats and travelers in the heart of France. I ran into a school group from the Memphis University School, a bunch of juniors (it's an all-boys school) studying the Lost Generation, and was reminded of the central role Paris played in the lives and work of such American authors as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein (as well as Irish writer James Joyce). Lots of literary history in this place!

Heading down the stairs into the Metro station at Saint-Michel in the heart of the city, I noticed spray paint on the ground:

"Namaste" is a Sanskrit term (नमस्ते) meaning "I greet the divine within you (and within me)." This gave me a pleasantly unexpected moment of pause down in the Parisian subway on a Sunday morning.

One of the nice features of Grand Slam tournaments is the ability to watch the junior competitions, which are far off the radar of most spectators. For example, this afternoon I was one of just a few dozen on Court 3 watching Bernard Tomic (above), a 16-year-old Australian seeded second in the boys' singles and already tapped to be a top player in the world in the years ahead.

By the way, here are some photos I took of another 16-year-old phenom at the All-England Club in 2003:

Happy 2011 from Paris! Spent a great night in the company of a 2003 Choate grad and his family and friends in L'île St. Louis in the center of the city (and the middle of the Seine).