A Walk in the Bois de Boulogne

Stade Roland Garros is located in the beautiful Bois de Boulonge. This a huge 846 hectare park on the western edge of Paris. Each morning when I leave the metro, I take a different path through the park to the site. I love this tree shaded walk, with lovely gardens, and wonderful smelling roses. A perfect way to start a busy workday.

The gardens have a long history in Paris. Originally known as the “Boulogne Woods” at different times in history, they have been the home to a number of monasteries, a royal hunting reserve, and a haunt of robbers and highwaymen.

In 1852 Napoleon III, nephew of the French hero, Napoleon, made the grounds into a park. In the years following, it was transformed with lawns, woodlands, streams, and two lakes. Today it provides leisure activities for Parisians as well as visitors. Two and a half times the size of New York’s Central Park, you can go rowing on the lake, ride horses on one of the many trails, attend a horserace at Longchampm or Auteuil Racecourses.

In the Jardin (garden) Shakespeare you can enjoy an open air play by the bard. The plays are preformed in French and English. This area is called the Shakespeare Garden and Theatre because of the five miniature gardens, each named after a play by the famous playwright. I’m going to try to get out of here early enough to do this one night. This would be something special, something that I really want to do.

There are of course several restaurants, and snack bars. In fact, the Champions dinner tomorrow night will be held in one of the most elegant diining rooms in the park.

7:00 PM

And the Fashion Award goes to … Jelena Jankovic. The fifth seed lost her match to unseeded Sorana Cirstea, but won the fashion award with her cute blue tennis dress. And how about those accessories? Blue trim on her shoes, blue nail polish, blue pony tail elastic, blue bobby pins, and blue mascara!

Nice back detail with her “JJ” monogram. Good work Elena. You won the fashion award in Miami with your cute yellow outfit and have done it again here in Paris.

Meanwhile who is Sorana Cirstea? She was born in Bucharest, Romania April 7 1990 her current 52 week ranking is 41. This is her second appearance in the French Open. She lost in the second round in 2008. She has a career win loss record of 38/35. Could this be the start of something big for the Bucharest beauty?