Europe Trip 2008 Day #6: Au Revoir Paris & Buongiorno Rome
Today was another travel day, and I have to say that both Jenn and I are ready for 12 days on a cruise with one room, so we can unpack and stay in one spot for a little bit. Today we were off to Rome from Paris on a flight at 6:05pm that landed exactly two hours later where we would meet up with Jenn's parents at the Rome Hilton Airport. Before we left Paris for good, Jenn and I had one more stop we wanted to hit, and that was Roland Garros one of the more appealing stops in my book.
Having watched hundreds of matches on TV on the French Open at Roland Garros I have always wanted to go see all 4 major grand slam events in person. And although there was no French Open going on at the time Jenn and I arrived at Roland Garros there was plenty to see. The first stop we did was on a side court just checking out one of the many open courts to public viewing. We walked around the entire area and saw that center court was blocked off, that didn't stop us though, I sneaked us into center court and it was there we got some great pictures and really took in all the sights. It was such an experience to stand there on center court, look where so many greats have stood and won the French Open. We went to the brand new "Tenniseum" which housed some great memorials to past champions. We rounded it off with a visit to the gift shop and were on our way.
My First Step on the Clay of Roland Garros
On Center Court of Roland Garros
Getting to and from Roland Garros was as easy as could be, that is thanks to the ultimate subway traveler Jenn who got us to and from without any hiccups. Jenn and I with each passing day in Paris became more and more comfortable with directing our way through the subway system as well as Paris itself. We got back from Roland Garros finished packing, checked out, had the hotel hold our luggage, and went off to lunch. We had another amazing meal, I got a three cheese pasta and Jenn a huge slab of lasagna. I asked for a glass of white wine, but they gave a half bottle, it was far to much, but still went really well with the meal.
On Center Court Pointing to the Roland Garros Logo
Next to the Statue of Lacoste
Jenn Overlooking the rest of Roland Garros
We took a Taxi (a Mercedes no less) from the Hotel to the Charles De Gaulle Airport which took about 45 minutes, and let us see outside of the main city of Paris. We got to the airport and smoothly got through all security and awaited our flight which got into Rome 10 minutes early. Everything was going smooth, we got our luggage right away, and followed the signs to the Rome Airport Hilton. We had to take an elevator to the third floor, we were on the first floor and we were in the elevator with an older Italian couple and all of a sudden we got stuck in between floors. Let me preface this by saying Rome is both hot and humid and this elevator probably was reaching a temperature of 100+ degrees. The Italian women lost it, and started screaming and hitting the side of the glass elevator, and the gentleman hit the emergency button. Well as Jenn and the Italian Women tried to gain other travelers attention by hitting on the glass window, the Italian lady screamed again and the elevator began to move again. We were probably stuck for 3-4 minutes, but it felt like forever and was one of those weird experiences you never want to go through again.
Jenn and I made it to the Rome Hilton and were surprised not to find Jenn's parents already there, as there flight came in earlier then ours. An hour and a half after we arrived Jenn's parents finally arrived one suitcase lighter as there bag is now lost. The big kicker is that it is the hanging suitcase with all four of our formal outfits for the cruise. I have an Italian Suit that I bought on my last trip to Europe, Jenn has three dresses, and Jenn's parents formal items as well. We are still crossing our fingers that the luggage turns up, but we shall see. We are now trying to get rested so we can go into town tomorrow and hit some of the stops that we have planned to hit. It should be a good day, and I think we are all just ready to hit the cruise and have a nice long day at sea to get ready for some great ports and some great memories. Another day is in the books, but there are still plenty more to come.
