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Paris

Paris, the cosmopolitan capital of France, is - with 2.2 million people living in the dense (105 km²) central city and almost 12 million people living in the whole metropolitan area - one of the largest agglomerations in Europe. Located in the north of the country on the river Seine, Paris has the reputation of being the most beautiful and romantic of all cities, brimming with historic associations and remaining vastly influential in the realms of culture, art, fashion, food and design. Dubbed the City of Light (la Ville Lumière) and Capital of Fashion, it is home to the world's finest and most luxurious fashion designers and cosmetics, such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Guerlain, Lancôme, L'Oréal, Clarins, etc. A large part of the city, including the River Seine, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city has the second highest number of Michelin-restaurants in the world (after Tokyo) and contains numerous iconic landmarks, such as the world's most visited tourist site the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Musée du Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries, Place Vendôme, Les Halles, Palais Royal, Comédie-Française, Moulin Rouge, Lido etc, making it the most popular tourist destination in the world with 45 million tourists annually.

The Paris museums and monuments are among its highest-esteemed attractions. The city's most prized museum, the Louvre, welcomes over 8 million visitors a year, being by far the world's most-visited art museum. The city's cathedrals are another main attractions: Notre Dame de Paris and the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. The Eiffel Tower is by far Paris' most famous monument. Disneyland Paris is a major tourist attraction for visitors to not only Paris but also the rest of Europe. The Louvre is one of the world's largest and most famous museums, housing many works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue.
Works by Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin are found in Musée Picasso and Musée Rodin, respectively, while the artistic community of Montparnasse is chronicled at the Musée du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior, the Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg, houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne.
Art and artifacts from the Middle Ages and Impressionist eras are kept in Musée de Cluny and Musée d'Orsay, respectively, the former with the prized tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn. Paris' newest (and third-largest) museum, the Musée du quai Branly, opened its doors in June 2006 and houses art from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.
click here for: events in Paris
more details: Paris Travelers' Choice Destination Tripadvisor 



Henri Leconte/Mansour Bahrami vs John McEnroe/Gomez

Roland Garros

The French Open, often referred to as Roland Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam held on clay and ends the spring clay court season.It is one of the largest events in tennis and by far the largest clay-court tournament. 

Les Internationaux de France, ou Tournoi de Roland-Garros, ou plus simplementRoland-Garros, est un tournoi de tennis sur terre battue dans le stade Roalnd-Garros.  il se déroule sur la dernière semaine de mai et la première semaine de juin. Il est l'un des quatre tournois du Grand Chelem, le second dans le calendrier après l'Open d'Australie en janvier. Suivent le tournoi de Wimbledon, dernière semaine de juin et première semaine de juillet, puis l'US Open en août. Dans le monde du tennis à majorité anglophone, le tournoi est aussi connu sous le nom de French Open.
more info


The Legends Trophy (Trophée des Légendes) was created in 1998 together with Mansour Bahrami. Each year it brings together history’s greatest champions, grouped according to age (35-45 years and over 45 years). It is a great opportunity to watch some former champions play in a friendly and funny atmosphere. 

Créé à l'initiative de Mansour Bahrami en 1998, le Trophée des Légendes réunit, chaque année, d'anciennes gloires du tennis, réparties en deux catégories: les 35-45 ans et les plus de 45 ans. Très apprécié des spectateurs, ce trophée est l'occasion, pour le public, de voir évoluer les anciens champions, dans une ambiance souvent très décontractée.

Die Trophée des Légendes wurde 1988 zusammen mit Mansour Bahrami ins Leben gerufen. Jedes Jahr kommen die größten Champions in verschiedenen Altersgruppen zusammen (35-45 Jahre und über 45 Jahre). Eine hervorragende Gelegenheit für jeden Zuschauer, diese Tennislegenden in entspannter Atmosphäre zu erleben und spielen zu sehen.

info 2014

schedule & results 2013 

Legends Trophy Gallery / Trophée des Légendes Galerie

Arrondissements / Districts Paris

The city of Paris itself is officially divided into 20 districts called arrondissements, numbered from 1 to 20 in a clockwise spiral from the centre of the city (which is known as Kilometre Zero and is located at the front of Notre Dame). Arrondissements are named according to their number. You might, for example, stay in the "5th", which would be written as 5e in French. The 12th and 16th arrondissements include large suburban parks, the Bois de Vincennes, and the Bois de Boulogne respectively.

Want to get a feel for what Paris was like in earlier times? "Paris en images" have an excellent selection of images, especially of our very own 8th arrondissement... Explore some of their great photos here...

Food

Paris is one of Europe's culinary centres. The restaurant trade began here just over 220 years ago and continues to thrive. It may however come as a surprise that Paris isn't considered the culinary capital of France, rather some people prefer the French cooking found in small rural restaurants, outside of the city, closer to the farms and with their focus on freshness and regional specialities. Even amongst French cities, Paris has long been considered by some people as second to Lyon for fine dining.

Today you can find hundreds of beautiful restaurants with thoughtful (or just trendy) interior design and well-planned and executed cartes and menus offering a creative mélange of French and exotic foreign cuisines. Of course there are also some traditional offerings, and for the budget conscious there are hundreds of traditional bistros, with their sidewalk terraces offering a choice of fairly simple (usually meat centred) meals for reasonable prices.
For seafood lovers, Paris is a great place to try moules frites (steamed mussels and French fries) (better in fall and winter), oysters, sea snails, and other delicacies. Meat specialties include venison (deer), boar, and other game (especially in the fall and winter hunting season), as well as French favourites such as lamb, veal, beef, and pork.
For good food and great service, try to go eat where the locals eat. Many restaurants are tiny and have tables close together - square metres are at a premium and understandably restaurateurs need to make the most of limited space. In some cases when the restaurant is crowded, you may have to sit beside strangers at the same table. If that does not appeal to you, go to a more upscale place where you will pay for the extra space. Trendy restaurants often require reservations weeks, if not months in advance. If you haven't planned far enough ahead, try to get a reservation for lunch which is generally easier and less expensive.

Shopping

Paris is one of the great fashion centres of the Western world, up there with New York, London, and Milan, making it a shopper's delight. While the Paris fashion scene is constantly evolving, the major shopping centres tend to be the same. High end couture can be found in the 8th arrondisement. In summer, there is nothing better than browsing the boutiques along Canal St-Martin, or strolling along the impressive arcades of the historic Palais-Royal, with beautifully wrapped purchases swinging on each arm. A good note about Le Marais is that as it is a mostly Jewish neighborhood, most of the shops in Le Marais are open on Sundays. The stores in this area are intimate, boutique, "Parisian" style clothing stores. You will no doubt find something along each street, and it is always well worth the look.
Other great areas to shop around in are around the area Sèvres Babylone. It is in this area you will find the Le Bon Marché 7th, particularly rue de Cherche Midi 6th. The area boasts some of the major fashion houses (Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, etc) and also has smaller private boutiques with handmade clothing.
In the Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés, you can find a handful of vintage clothing shops, carrying anything from couture early 20th century dresses, to 70s Chanel sunglasses. Walking along Boulevard Saint-Germain, you will find major brands. However, if in search of eclectic finds, opt to walk the northern side of the Boulevard, especially along rue Saint André des Arts, where you can always find a nice café to stop in. The area south of Saint-Germain is just as nice, and comes with a price tag to match. In the artsy quarters of 1 and 4, there are many bargains to be had, once again, if you are prepared to look. Souvenirs are easily found and can be fairly inexpensive as long as you don't buy from the tourist sites. For cheap books of French connection, try the University/Latin quarter as they sell books in all languages starting from half a euro each.

Paris has 3 main flea-markets, located on the outskirts of the central city. The most famous of these is the Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen (Porte de Clignancourt) (Clignancourt Flea Market) , Métro: Porte de Clignancourt, in the 18th, a haven for lovers of antiques, second-hand goods and retro fashion. The best days to go are Saturday and Sunday.

Fashion Week Paris: Tennis Fashion

Frilly Panties

Let's talk about fashion. Fashion on the tennis court which has evolved tremendously in recent years.

I remember my early days at Roland Garros in the late 70s. It would have been impossible to wear something any other than "White" on the court. I remember really tight shorts for men and tennis dresses for women with small lace panties. At that time this was very sexy :-)

Men's shorts were very short in length just as the football players shorts at the time, and the female audience was particularly pleased when Yannick Noah played. 

They shouted from the stands: "Run Yannick!" And Yannick lifted his shorts even higher to provoke them and also to be able to move more freely. The cut of the pants was actually not the most comfortable. I had the same problems and even had to tighten my belt to fit the shorts. To play tennis in these shorts was not easy, but so was the time and it did not prevent us from playing and winning great matches. 

The quality of the shirts ... After an exhausting set my shirt was dripping with sweat, and must have weighed around 15 kilos or so :-)

80% of the clothing was white. I remember an anecdote at Roland Garros. A Davis Cup match between France and Romania. I think it was in 1978, Ilie Nastase against Francis Jauffret. Francis incidentally holds the record in the French Davis Cup team: 35 appearances between 1964 and 1978!

Ilie Nastase appeared in a fancy outfit on the court. Hold on tight ... caution: red shorts, red socks and the icing on the cake was his shirt in the Romanian colors (blue, yellow, red)! I can tell you that caused quite a big outcry. 

Today really everything has changed for men in terms of outfit. The outfitters have made enormous progress with regard to fabrics, cut and style. And it's true that certain outfits are unacceptable, such as the currently trendy neon. Some players could work on the highway. You know, like the little plastic figures waving flags in a danger zone or the road workers by night in their reflective vests. So we could play at night without light, who knows, maybe a new concept? :-) I think it's great!

Tennis fashion in the 80s was predominantly white, very classic and far less sexy than today. Some wore classic skirts, others wore dresses. With the exception of Chris Evert who always had an incredible classy style. She was wearing a little white blouse, a white skirt and frilly panties underneath that you could see when she was serving! I loved how the television constantly showed the frills!

The real change in tennis fashion happened in early 2000. The players began to really dress up on court since a lot of women demanded from their sponsors to produce form-fitting outfits in new high-tech materials.

I think it’s great and sexy. The audience loves it, too. So why hiding :-)?

A tout à l'heure! Henri Leconte

 

#RG15


Modernisation de Roland Garros von mairiedeparis

Davis Cup Henri Leconte & Richard Gasquet


TPMS : Malaise entre Henri Leconte et Richard... von closer