By: Richard Berry
Jan and I recently had the incredible privilege of spending 2 amazing weeks in the beautiful city of Paris! Half of our time in “The City of Light” was spent touring the monuments, museums, streets, rivers, and restaurants while the other half of our time was spent watching the greatest tennis players in the world vie for the coveted French Open title at Roland Garros. We were pleasantly surprised by the warmth of most of the local French people we met, almost all of whom spoke at least some English. We were not the greatest fans of much of the French cuisine but did enjoy immensely the French pastries and breads which are baked twice daily. We also took careful notice of how much the Parisians look forward to long lunch breaks spent socializing at the streetside cafes which are literally found lining every block. They then return as soon as work is done in the afternoon for more time together followed by what we considered to be exceptionally late dinners around 8 or 9 pm.
Our time at Roland Garros was especially memorable as we were able to see Rafa Nadal play 3 matches including the men’s finals where he was crowned the champion for the 14th time at the French Open which brought his total wins at majors to 22! We also got to see Coco Gauff, the 19-year-old American women’s tennis phenom, compete for singles and doubles finals but falling short in both. What an incredible week she had though to make it all the way to the French Open doubles and singles championships and to graduate from high school! We also saw the heart wrenching moment when Alexander Zverev went down with a serious ankle injury during his semifinals match against Nadal having to be taken from the court in a wheelchair. As Zverev returned on crutches to formally retire the match, Nadal embraced his opponent who was in tears.
As for the days we spent touring the city and falling in love with “The City of Light,” we would like to share these photos with you because words just seem to fall short. In the meantime, we pray that you and your family have a very joy filled Fourth of July as we celebrate our great country’s independence.
