Rain, Rain, Go Away

Is the Paris or Wimbledon?

With a third straight day of rain in Paris, even if the matches that are currently on finish, we will still be around 20 matches behind. They have not even finished the first round . Not a good way to start a Grand Slam. Tomorrow’s forecast is for cloudy but no rain, However, Thursday it is expected to rain all day. Well, the good news is, I’ll have time to do the shops and museums. I always say there are two ways of looking at things, and I’m choosing to look at the bright side in this case.

I spent most of today trying to decide if I should even go to the site at all. Was actually planning to sleep in but a call from a friend and colleague at 9AM asking if I was going to the site, got me up. It was raining pretty steadily at that point, so I couldn’t figure out why she was calling me, maybe she was in a hotel with no windows, told her to meet me for breakfast at 11AM and tried to get a little more sleep, but it was not good. I was awake. Darn! This was the perfect day for a good rest, because now that the tournament is behind, when it finally clears up I will be working nonstop.

Okay, now that I’m up I may as well get a few things done. Put on my rain gear, and went go to do a few errands. Needed to get a French sim card for my phone, and flowers for my apartment. Just because it’s raining, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be pleasant in my Place at the Top.

I meet Xinyi, my friend who writes for the Shanghai newspaper for coffee and croissant, it’s still raining, but we check the internet to see if maybe it’s maybe it’s different at Roland Garros, no; they are in rain delay and are now saying that they will start play in one and a half hours. I don’t trust this and decide to wait and see if they actually get the covers off the courts before going out to the site. We decide to browse in the Tashen bookstore. Very dangerous!! This is one of my favorites full of beautiful high quality art books and good looking artists and musicians. Tempted as I am to own a thick book with wonderful photos of famous Jazz musicians, I remind myself of the expense of overweight luggage.

Back up the five flights and another trip to Roland Garros via the internet. It’s still raining.. Okay, time for a nice lunch. We up our umbrellas and find a very inviting small Italian Trattoria just as it starts to rain hard. So glad to be in this warm dry place with great food and a glass of red wine. Not minding the rain at all right now. We finish lunch and make another trip to the Internet. They are playing!! Wow, now we have to hurry to get ourselves together and go out to the site. Just as we start down the steps to the Metro, it starts raining again. Forget this! I want to see the end of Isner and Chela but I’m going to be really unhappy if I make the trip and there is no play. Plus, I reason, even if it is not actually raining it is dark, with heavy clouds. There will be no nice photos today.

Xinyi, opts for going shopping… she is one of the great shoppers of the world, and I decide to check out some of the small galleries in the area. I love rue de Seine a narrow cobblestoned street lined with high-end art galleries specializing in 19th and 20th century masters, prints, and photographs. If you feel like splurging on a small Vlaminck , or Matisse Print, or a Picasso sketch, this is the place.

Prefer pre Columbian? Chinese antiquities? Contemporary Japanese? Turn right on rue Jacob and you will discover a treasure trove of choices.

5 PM, It’s still raining but Parisians take it in stride, the café’s are filled with people sipping coffee, a glass of wine, sharing conversation, gossip, reading, or just watching the passing scene. I find a table, order a pot of tea, and stop worrying about rain delays, and photos, sit back and enjoy the people watching, after all, I’m living like a Parisian for the next two weeks.