Roland Garros 2008 - Day 2

Play began on Sunday here, which is an unusual thing for any tennis tournament.  The French Tennis Federation believes it a way to get more people to the event which is important to them.  It basically means we've got an extra day here of work.

I woke up feeling really rough.  Headache, stuffy, and just out of sorts.  Still I wasn't about to allow myself to be slack and much like I did during my Australia trip, every day I woke up hung over I told myself my penance would be to job anyway.  Sweat out the booze so to speak.  We're staying adjacent to Jardin Tuileries and that means I have a picturesque run if nothing else.  I have no idea what the distance around it is, so I just ran laps around the perimeter for my 55 minutes of running requirement.  Maybe someone can tell me how to convert 2500 acres into some measurements I could use to tell real distance.

During the run, my iPhone clip broke.  That means it won't clip to the arm band or my belt clip.  Disappointing, but not the end of the world.  I got lucky and as it broke my arm was moving forward so it came up and off in front of me.  I was able to stab it in mid air (cat like reflexes I tell ya!) and not have it bounce on the gravel.  I stuffed it into my pocket and kept going.  When I got to the hotel I saw the shattered plastic and knew it was done.

I am mildly disoriented because of the new hotel.  I am not familiar with the commute to the venue, and everyone here seems convinced that I should "just know" how to get here as they've all been at least once before this year and since the move to the new hotel.  Because we're taking more trains, the suggestion this year is a NaviGo card from the Metro, but that means I need a picture I can have put onto it, and it is supposed to have a light background.  I'll have to keep working on that bit, but in the meantime, I have my carnet, which was 10 tickets at a slightly discounted rate, to get me onto the trains.  There is still a bit of a walk, which is nice because it means I'll be getting in double duty from running and walking for my exercise.  Combined with the lame French food and I am sure I'll shed pounds quickly :-)

Rain off and on throughout the day.  Not significant amounts, but enough I am concerned.  Tennis tournaments depend on weather and I hate the days spent watching nothing going on.  Maybe I'll get lucky.  Having 15 days should help with scheduling, so I'll reserve any judgement for now.

I called Colleen from the venue.  Not quite the best way to have to speak to her, but I don't have the one cell phone yet.  I hate having to talk to her in this big cavern with people on every side.  I know they're trying to not listen in, but how much can they truly ignore?  Anyway, it was good to hear her voice.

Since Josh is on his way back to the US, I took advantage of his time here to leave before the end of play.  We had to walk back in the rain, but I didn't mind.  It wasn't raining hard.  A quick change for dinner (our venue wear is literally a T-shirt) and down to the lobby.  What?  Fuxia again?  May I curse profusely?  Of course, I had no real alternative to suggest so I typically won't say 'no' if I cannot offer a counter suggestion.  It was packed for some reason, and we had to wait on a table.  I think part of it was that they truly depend on the outdoor seating, and their awning was broken which left it exposed to the rain so a significant number of tables could not be used.  Veal Scallopini was OK, but nothing to write home about.  Hopefully, this will have gotten the restaurant out of everyone's system and I won't have to eat there again.  At least it isn't terribly pricey.

Got back to the room reasonably early.  Just after 11.  I risked the TV and other than CNN international, there aren't any real English speaking channels.  So, I watched some French drama for a while that centered around a female prosecutor that seemed to be in some kind of trouble as she was meeting with gang leaders and being forced to allow some criminal element to go free.  It was tough to follow considering the language barrier.  So, I switched to an MTV Europe channel and watched South Park dubbed in German!  Having seen the episode before and knowing more German than French, I was able to follow it more closely.  At the end of the episode, I switched back to CNN International and oddly they were showing 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' on the channel.  I wonder if countries outside the US consider it real news?  Hard to say really.

Drifted off to sleep knowing I'd be up again tomorrow for another run.  The room is still stuffy, so I am sure I'll be up early anyway.

Cheers!