Monet's Water Lily Paintings

I started my day with a walk through the Tuleries Gardens to the Orangerie Museum. This small museum holds the works of several French Impressionist, but the main reason to come here are the Claude Monet Water Lily Murals. This eight panel set is housed in a pair of oval rooms with natural light flooding in from skylights.

This is the perfect setting to experience these stunning paintings. Entering the first gallery through a stone archway, you are completely surrounded by the changing light and swirling colors of Monet’s water garden. Each of the two rooms holds four panels. There is an oval bench in the center of each room for visitors to sit and contemplate the paintings. Monet’s idea was to install these works in an oval to encompass the viewer in a sensually enveloping space. The aim, he said was to supply “the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon or bank. To give you some idea of the value of these works, one of Monet’s paintings from this series sold for 18.5 million pounds at a Sotheby’s auction in London last year.

I Regretfully, I leave this lovely meditative space and catch the metro out to the site.

I was hoping to catch the end of the mixed doubles final, but Bob Bryan and Victoria Azarenka have won the title in one hour and seven minutes. This makes Bob the only American male to take home a trophy from Roland Garros in 2008. Well done Bob! At least the U.S. didn’t get completely closed out.

Next up, Nadal Djokovic. Even though Novak is very tough and playing well, Rafa, has been unbelievable for the whole tournament, so it’s no surprise that the King of Clay is through to the final on Sunday. This win gives Nadal the chance to be the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1981 to win four consecutive French Open titles.

The second match looks to be more interesting. Federer is playing the wild French showman, Gael Monfils. The stadium is full and you can feel the anticipation in the air. Federer has been to the final here but clay is not his best surface, and Monfils is on a roll. Unfortunately that roll ended in four sets, so we will have a … surprise, surprise,.. Federer, Nadal final.

Last but not least, a few words about the Media Party last night. If the measure of a good party is the condition of the participants the following day, then this was a huge success. Everyone is dragging today. This is a party everyone looks forward to, offering media members a chance to relax, have some fun and mix with the colleagues they have been working side by side with for the last 12 days.

Champagne, Mojito, French Wine, good food, music by a live band, dancing, gift of Chocolate,

what more could you ask for?

One idea I loved, and am going to steal for one of my party’s was a hot chicken dish served in little cellophane bags that you slit open and ate directly out of the bag. The French are SOOOOO inventive.

I’ve had a busy day, and I got very little sleep last night, so this is it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the women’s final and more adventures in Paris.

Retail Therapy

Matches don’t start until 2PM today, so I decide I need and deserve a little retail therapy.

The narrow, winding streets in my quarter are filled with small intriguing shops that hold great possibilities for browsing. Two doors down from my apartment is a wonderful shop specializing in olives and olive oil. If you're an olive affectionado, this is heaven. Green, purple, black, red, large, small, tiny, all cured in different ways, with different herbs. Did you know that all olives are the same? That the difference in color and size is merely the difference of the age at which the olives are picked?

The shop also has a large selection of beautiful olive oils, some of which are treated like fine vintage wines. These olive trees are often grown by wine producers, and are priced like fine wine as well. I buy a small selection of olives, which I will share with friends when they visit my Place at the top.

I’m a book lover so my next stop is Metiers Arts Appliques, a tiny bookstore specializing in art books. I’m only going to browse here because I don’t want to be carrying books home. A few doors down the street there is tiny used book store, carrying old, beautifully hand bound volumes. I almost buy a book of French poetry just because I love the red leather cover, the old binding, the gold leaf titles, but I come to my senses in time and give it a pass.

The Herboristerie is a shop I've been meaning to check out. It’s filled with herbs, and vials of exotic oils for medicinal use and aromatherapy. I buy a small satin pillow filled with French, lavender, it’s supposed to help you sleep well, and even if you can’t sleep at least you are laying awake smelling something nice.

I’d love to find something great to wear to the press dinner tonight, how about this dress with the heart shaped skirt? No, I don’t think so; however you could be sure that no one else would show up in the same outfit.

I check out a dress that I’ve been eyeing in the window of another small boutique, but they don’t have my size so my credit card is saved once more.

I’ve had a nice morning, but now it’s time to go shoot the women’s semi final. Hopefully they will both be two short sets, but at least they are best of three rather than five.

First up, Safina and Kuznetsova. Safina is looking very strong, and keeping her temper under control. I heard that her brother, Marat has been sending her text messages with advice and support, so maybe he advised her not to be as mad as he has often been, and blow the match. She wins in two mercifully short sets.

Next up is the battle of the Serbs, Ivanovic and Jankovic. I’m a little annoyed at Ana for blowing the second set, losing 7 straight games in a row, but she prevailed taking out Jankovic and will meed Safina on Saturday.

After defeating Jankovic, the Serbian beauty came into press all smiles dressed in a cute, sexy little tank top and white addidas pants.

This win makes Ana the new number one, and it looks like she is also taking over the glamor girl title, so the screamer is out and Ana is in.

Champions Dinner

The Champions dinner is tonight, but first I want to say:

Happy Birthday Rafa!

Rafael Nadal must have been in a hurry to get to his 22^nd birthday celebration today. He barely broke a sweat during his 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, forty four minute match against fellow countryman Nicolas Almagro. Roger is hoping that this will be the year that he will be holding the French trophy over his head, but he definitely has his work cut out for him. Rafa is looking VERY tough.

On the women’s side, Ana Ivanovic, strolled to the semi final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Patty Schnyder. Ana’s coral dress, the orange clay, and red geraniums made a picture worthy of colors in a French Impressionist painting.

I have to leave the site early, so I can get dressed for the ITF Champions Dinner. This is an annual event set in the elegant surroundings of the Pavilion d’Armenoville. The dinner commemorates a year of spectacular tennis, and honors players who will are named World Champions. This includes men’s and women’s singles and doubles, junior boys and girl’s singles and doubles champions, and means and women’s wheelchair champions.

This black tie gala is a great opportunity to dress up, and have a beautiful dinner. The room, with windows overlooking the beautiful gardens of the Bois de Boulogne is done in French Regency décor. Gold chairs upholstered in Champagne colored brocade, round tables for eight are covered with dark green table cloths accented by wide gold ribbons. Glowing candles highlight the artful flower arrangements.

Guests include former tennis players, sponsors, Grand Slam representatives,National and Regional Association dignitaries, officials, coaches, and the media. I have a hard time recognizing players when they are not in tennis gear and have to follow other photographers around asking who everyone is. I decide to have a glass of Champagne and stop worrying about identifying the guests.

As always, at any event planned by Barbara Travers of the ITF, the food and wine are perfect. I’m having a little problem figuring out what to do with my bread. I just can’t get used to not having bread plates. So here I am in at this elegant dinner, wearing my favorite dressy pink silk dress, trying to figure out what to do with the roll that I just took from the basket proffered by the waiter. I notice that the French just put their bread on the table, but I don’t like this idea, so I pulling off small bites and eating it seems like the best solution. I will remember not to take any more rolls.

My first course arrives, beautifully arranged cold vegetables with a small glass vial of oil and vinegar. As stated in a previous blog, everything here is art.

The awards are presented after the first course. Roger Federer, looking very GQ is honored for the fourth consecutive year, and the Bryan Bros. for a record fifth year. Justine Henin is the woman's champion, but cannot be at the dinner. .

Photos done, we now settle down to finish our meal. The main course is Bresse Chicken with Morels and Arbois Jus, but I opt for the vegetarian, which turns out to be 3 different vegetable pates’s wrapped in thin pasta served with greens. Beautiful and delicious.

A choice of wines if offered and glassed refilled by white coated servers. I could get used to this. Desert is apricot Tart Tartin. I try to use the large spoon that the French use for this course, but I’m having a hard time with this and switch to a fork before I really make a fool of myself and drop food in my lap. Coffee, and chocolate follow, then the official cars provide transportation back to hotels. A perfect evening.

The Pont des Arts

The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the Seine River. It links the Institue de France and the central square of the palais cu Louvre . This is one of my favorite places in Paris. There is a special atmosphere here. People picnic, watch the sunset, drink wine, or just hang out. There are street musicians, and art exhibits. There is a photo exhibit there now that I’ve been wanting to see. It’s called, “Palestine, Life As It Is”. The exhibit features two Palestinian photographers now living in Paris.

The show is not political, nor does it dwell on the suffering and hardships, it is more of a personal memoir, a family album. It is more about the trivial everyday life that goes on there.

Rula Halawani’s photos depict life in Palestine and Jerusalem. In “Under the Gaza Sky”, Taysir Batniji takes us to his family home in Gaza.

As I look into the faces of people in the photos, I keep thinking, “these are real people”, the have the same needs and desires as you and I. The children laugh and play and their parents love them. Young boys play sports, and old men gather in pubs and café’s for gossip and drinks. Women go to the market, take care of household chores, mind the children. There are weddings, and celebrations. Picnic’s at the beach. I’m taken by one photo of an old woman swathed in black, sitting in the shade under a table at the market. I wonder what her life is like.

Both photographers show moments of happiness and sorrow, in a landscape that is both beautiful and ugly. Urban and contemporary activities live side by side with the more traditional, religious customs. These people, like us, have dreams and disillusionment. It’s obvious that the painful history of this area is very much a part of their daily life.

I walk away thinking how lucky I am, knowing that I could have been one of these people but for the luck of the draw.






And speaking of the draw Gael Monfils became the first Frenchman to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals in seven years by defeating Spanish No5 seed David Ferrer 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1 . This will mean he will meet Federer in the semi-final. This is a match I'm looking forward to. The French fans will pack the stands to support their player, and will go mad if he gets past Federer, and frankly I think he has a chance.

Sleeveles Shirts

I’m loving the trend of sleeveless shirts on the guys! Everyone talks about Nadal,s arms, but check out Monfils, chocolate eye candy at it’s sweetest.

The Ginepri express came to a screeching halt today on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Robby will be on the airport limo along with the Bryan Brothers.

Considering the fact that Gonzalez clay court record for this year is 16-0 and Robby’s is 5-4 three of which were won here at Roland Garros, it’s disappointing but not surprising that the Chilean won in straight sets.

Robby, playing without his lucky bandage, looked good in the first set, hanging in with Gonzo on looooooong points. I held my breath on one 17 stroke exchange at 4 all, but Ginepri ended up netting a volley off a Gonzalez passing shot. Maybe he needs to wear that white tape more often.

Ginepri expressed disappointment in his post match press conference, but went on to say, “it was a great last week and great tournament." Yes, it was a great week for him, and hopefully he can keep his game going at have a good result at Wimbledon.

The Bryan’s loss was a different story. It was raining so hard I had to leave for fear of damaging my camera. The balls were soaked with water and mud. Water flew off them every time they were hit. Play on all the other courts had been halted. I have no idea why they kept playing this match.

Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, teamed with Luis Horna of Peru to beat

I watched the end of the match on TV and saw that the Bryans declined to shake hands with their opponent’s, Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, and Luis Horna of Peru.

The twins grew up in Southern California and I’ve known them since they were kids. They are two of the best mannered, most respectful, nice guys you ever want to meet, so this was really surprising to me. Later in press, they explained that they felt the team of Horna and Cuevas was out of line and disrespectful when Cuevas jumped the net landing close to the Bryans, when they were changing sides with the Latin Americans leading 5-1 in the tiebreaker.

"He was really disrespectful," Mike said. "He jumped the net right in our face. It's classless.” Bob added, "I thought he was rubbing it in our face a little bit”.

We are now in our THIRD rain delay. I have enough rain photos to last a lifetime.

The sun has peeked out, and The Screamer is

back on court. against Dinar Safina.

I don’t have my ear plugs with me, so I guess I’ll have to suffer possible ear damage, but this match promises to have good photos, so I’ll take the chance.

Safina, like her older brother, Marat Safin, has no problem showing her emotional make up. Same blood, same drama. The 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 match was not disappointing.

With Sharapova up 5-2 in the second, and then again holding a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak Safina, in turn angry, joyous, bouncing her racquet in disgust, pumping her fist in joy, managed to pull out that set, the went on to defeat Maria 6-2 in the third.

On to Monfils. I love to shoot him. Always good stuff going on, good photos, great atmosphere. There is a controversy when the umpire gives a code violation for coaching, The popular Parisian argues but the coaching stops, and Monfils defeats Ljubicic in three without any help from the stands.

I’ve had enough. I want to get back to St. Germain, talk a walk, dinner, enjoy my evening.

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning and the bells of Notre Dame are ringing. The great Bourdon bell weighs over 13 tons and is tolled to mark the hours of the day, and for various occasions and services. There are four additional bells in the North Tower which are rigged to swing freely. Although I know that the bells are no longer rung manually, every time I hear them I am reminded of Victor Hugo’s classic book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I stroll along the river browsing in the used book stalls until I reach plaza in front of Notre Dame. Construction on this French Gothic masterpiece was started in 1163 and completed in 1345. Today it is still used as a Roman Catholic Cathedral. The plaza is buzzing with tourists, having portraits sketched, their name done in Chinese calligraphy, having their photo taken on the marker denoting point zero, which is the official center of Paris, where the city first began. And if all this activity wears you out, or if you've had a late night, you can always take a nap!

Just past Notre
Just Past Dame, I cross a short bridge to the Ille de St. Louis. This is a small Island on the River Seine, between the left and right banks. Uninhabited until the 17^th century this Isle was often used for duels. In the years 1614 to 1646, he real estate was developed into an area of luxury homes. Today, the main street, rue St Louis I’lle, is filled with small upscale shops where you can buy one of a kind artist designed jewelry, clothing by young designers, gifts, or for the gourmand, a shop devoted to foie gras. I love the small village atmosphere where you can escape the busy streets of Paris. I stop at a six table Mediterranean restaurant for breakfast, buy fresh flowers for my Place at the Top, and browse the shops. One of my favorite photo galleries is here, and they are currently featuring a show on Picasso, but it’s closed on Sunday, so I’ll have to come back. As much as I’d like to linger, I have to get to the site, so I head back to the metro.

I decide to shoot from the pit today. This is an area at the end of the court that is almost eye level with the red clay. I love to shoot from here because you can get some really nice and interesting images.

Also, it is covered, so if it starts to rain, you are protected. The stadium is full for the Mathieu/Djokovic match. The French fans do their best to cheer their player to victory, but Djokovic is too tough and wins in three sets.

Next up is the match everyone has been looking forward to, Nadal/Verdasco, but first there is a short rain delay.

The players are back on the court warming up, I am back in the pit thinking, wow, it doesn’t get much better than this. Two of the hottest players on the tour on court at the same time. This is going to be a pleasure. Everyone has been talking about this match between the two Spaniards, Nadal seeded two, and Verdasco twenty two. Verdasco is on his way up and could give Nadal trouble. The two Davis Cup teammates square off, but it is a totally one sided match. Nadal was never challenged his 25-year-old compatriot, and cruised to a 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 victory.

Well, it’s raining AGAIN, so I’m going to wrap it up for today. Tune in tomorrow for more adventures in Paris.

Go Robby!

I am SO pleased! Robby Ginepri has just become the first American male to make it into the second week at Roland Garros since Andre Agassi in 2003. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Robby is one of those people that you always want to do well. He’s had his ups and lately his downs, but 6 weeks of intense training with taskmaster Jose Higueras seems to have helped him turn the corner. He’s raised his ranking from a career low of 171 in January to 93, and will certainly move up again after the French.

I’ve made it a point to go to all of his matches here, first round against up and coming American Donald Young, second 27^th seed, Igor Andreev, who took out Andy Roddick last year, and today Florent Serra of France.

The match was on Court One which is my favorite stadium, it’s smaller and more intimate than Court Philippe Chatrier or Suzanne Lenglen, the atmosphere in an important match is electric. Today the stands were at capacity with rowdy fans cheering the French player, but it didn’t seem to faze Ginepri who won in straight sets.

He’ll play the 30^th seed, Fernando Gonzalez next. Gonzo is a natural clay court player, having grown up in Chili, but I think Robby had a really good chance against him.

About the arm:”there's actually just the little piece of tape in between the two pieces. That's what kind of sets up the operation that's there. It's just for my triceps. I hurt it earlier this year in Vegas and actually had to take three or four weeks off” “But it's been feeling 100%, and we're just going to keep it going, I think. It's maybe a good luck charm now.”

About being the last American:” Last guy standing, it's a good feeling. I would definitely like to have a lot of the other Americans still in the tournament, of course, but really not trying to let that weigh on my shoulders as much. I know what I have to do, and I'm going to have to do it...

There is a wine tasting for the media this evening. Everyone love and looks forward to this annual event. Wines, cheese, sausage, and other delicacies are served in the media dining room and patio. It’s a great chance for a break, and a little socializing, which on day 7 we all need. I always make it a point to talk to someone that I’ve never met before. Tonight I met a young Japanese photographer who is just starting out on the tour. He tells me that he loves tennis and decided to specialize in shooting the Russian girls, so has learned to speak Russian to better communicate with them. Well, now I happen to know that a lot of Japanese men love tall blonds, so there may be more motive to the Russian language lessons that just photography, but he’s and interesting person, and I’m glad I met him.

Dinner tonight was at a small Brazilian restaurant with a group of Brazilian and French friends. The place is tiny so they closed the restaurant just for our group of about 16. The place is simple but charming and the food terrific. Conversation turned to American politics and I was impressed but not surprised at the level of knowledge these people had about our upcoming election. Europeans and even the Latin countries are much better informed on world events than American. I don’t want to sound like an American who bashes her own countrymen, but I’m willing to bet that the average U.S. citizen doesn’t even know who the President of France or Brazil is. (Nicolas Sarkozy for France, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for Brazil).

The consensus among this group of friends is that they would all hope to see Obama elected, but think the McCain will be the next President. They don’t think Americans will elect a black man. They feel that a public who would elect George Bush twice will go for the old conservative military man. One of the men has been to University in the U.S. and said that in his opinion, bigotry and racism was still strong in the States. Anti US sentiment has never been higher and they feel that the same policies will continue if McCain is elected. They also think Hillary Clinton’s claim to having more experience is ridiculous. They ask, “How does being first lady qualify you for President?” They were also appalled at her reference to the Kennedy assignation. I don’t mean to get political in this blog, but I think it’s interesting to hear viewpoint from people outside the US. People who work in the media and are well educated, people who travel the world as I do, people who have certainly had political problems in their own countries, people with a world view.

So with that thought I’ll close for tonight.