Hiking the GR6, GR5 & Tour du Mont Blanc 

Friday June 1st- 8k walk along Seine before the French Open.  Overcast, 14°C to 23°C

Again up at 5.30am, cup of tea and off for a walk down to Bastille and on to the Seine - Across the Seine and come across the second Bridge with love locks. This is a walk I could do every day of my life.  Notre Dame, the Lovre, Musee D'orsey, Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais and on it goes.  Back at the apartment in Rue Sedaine.  Brunch is pork fillet and mushrooms and we cook enough for lunch on the TGV to Avignon the next day.  

Then its off to Briguet Sabin Metro and off the the French Open again.  Arrive at 12.30 to see end of ladies singles match.  Next ladies singles, Kuznetsova and Radwanska was a whole lot better than the Jamilla match the dy before.  3rd seed Radwanska lost to the bigger and stronger Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3.  

Then the mens singles with the Frenchman Willie Tsonga and the Italian Foggini. A very vocal crowd supporting Tsonga with mexican waves, slow claps and chants.  Tsonga wins 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.  Then along came Federer, playing another Frenchman Nicholas Muhat.  A great match which Federer wins 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. 

And in-between we visit the Loges open Bar with a beautiful spread of cheeses, wines, cold meats and artistic sweets.  We leave Rolland Garros at 8.30  - 8 hours at the tennis - and catch the Metro back to Briguet Sabin.  The cafes are full of diners.  But our street is quiet.  

We pack a box of left over clothes, umbrellas, a blue blanket, other stuff and our two stripy bags which carried our backpacks securely on the flight over. I label the box in my best French - with our names and a note that we will pick to up on July 12th, then stash the box in a hole in the brickwork under the stairs and hope that it is there when we return - if not - no loss.  They had been clothes I had bought cheaply (at St Vinnies) to leave behind in Paris, so we didn't have to cart them all over France in our backpacks.

We clean the apartment, charge the computers and the phone, have a glass of wine, set the alarm for 5.30am and go to bed