Inspired by this poster: https://www.cinematerial.com/movies/forget-paris-i113097/p/jqgkczbr
Travel Date: September 2018
After the first few days of our journey, we returned the rental car and headed by the Metro into Paris. The Ryder Cup was about to begin at Le Golf National's par-72 Albatross course.
Now, we could equally have commuted to the course from the station at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines where we previously stayed, but having gone to France, we wanted to go into Paris.
Monday, September 24th
And so we took the RER B3 from CDG's Terminal 1 and got off at Denfert-Rochereau and walked 5 minutes to our AirBNB.
Suneel had done his research. Our home for the next 4 nights was a minute away from Rue Daguerre, filled with restaurants and cafes, and 5 minutes from the RER B line that we'd need to take to get to the Ryder Cup.
The apartment was on the 2nd floor of a building and owned by an artist, hailing from a family of artists. Artwork from her family filled the walls and where it wasn't artwork from herself or her father, it was artwork from her children or art-deco posters.
After unpacking and a coffee, we set out into the town and to explore the pleasures of Paris. Armed with jackets and ice-cream cones, we took on the Seine river cruise.
With a highlights-of-Paris completed for the evening, we headed back to Rue Daguerre and to sample our first randomly-selected-restaurant of the week. For the first night, we picked 'La Baraka', a North African restaurant with plenty of meat and veg options.
At this point, we were mostly just waiting for the day to end and the next day to begin and for our first glimpse of the course.
Tuesday, September 25th
Excitement got us out of bed early on the Tuesday, despite Monday being a long day. We walked down Rue Daguerre, where the only shops open were the Boulangeries. Drawn in by the fragrance of freshly baked bread, we got croissants and coffees to go and headed off to the RER B line at Denfert-Rochereau.
Getting out at Massy-Palaiseau, we looked around aimlessly for about 15 seconds and then noticed the Ryder Cup volunteer in the bright blue jacket, who pointed us to the Ryder Cup signs all over the floor. It has to be said that the signage wasn't obvious but once you noticed it, it really was everywhere.
At the end of the signage was a tremendously long fleet of buses waiting to bus us to the venue. We were in the first bus of the day and the 20 minute drive was filled with nervous anticipation.
We lined up in a steadily growing but orderly line to get in through the gates where all the volunteers spoke perfect English and once in, we ran like headless chickens into the Souvenir Store. An embarrassingly large number of items were bought, for which I blame the excitement and a pristine store, to which we were the first customers of the week. We also bought souvenirs on which we intended getting team autographs. We mentally set ourselves a target to get 24 autographs (12 players each from Team Europe and Team USA) over 3 days.
We made our way to the course as the first groups from Team USA and Europe were going out and our jaws dropped. We'd never seen a course so green and immaculate. We ran around a little bit, in wondrous amazement, talking to course marshals and volunteers.
As Tiger, Phil, Bryson and Reed walked onto the green, we took photos and videos galore. Team USA kept to themselves, all business. There was no interaction with the crowd and no autographs or smiles.
We cut across the fairways as word spread and the course scoreboards indicated that Team Europe was out on the course. To our immense delight, the big names were out on the course. Rory, Rahm, Casey and Thorbjorn.
The difference in the approach of the two teams was immediately apparent to us. Team Europe stopped and signed autographs after pretty much every hole. They talked to fans, European or American. They joked and engaged, not just with the fans but with each other.
The team vice-captains' biggest job appeared to be to get the players through from one hole to the next at a good enough pace to make their practice round productive.
It was almost as though the two teams had clearly opposing strategies to engage with the crowd, with one team trying to tune out the crowd and the other embracing the buzz.
Through numerous breaks at the hospitality tents and on-course refreshment stalls and with an unending sense of wonder and disbelief we hung around until darkness set and the teams had headed back in after their first practice day.
To end a great day, we did a crepe dinner at La Creperie Bretonne in the Montparnasse district of Paris. Crepes, Cider and ice-creams for a perfect finish.
Wednesday, September 26th
As Day 2 dawned, our first day on the course had given us an idea of the course layout. We were a little more strategic going into Day 2. We decided we would go around to holes and parts of the course we hadn't seen before and we follow golfers whose autographs had not yet been collected.
So determined and ready were we, that we got to the course even earlier than we did on Day 1.
From an autograph perspective, Day 2 was an absolute blast. We checked off some big guns. Poulter, Fleetwood, Alex Noren and so many more.
From a golf perspective, Team Europe meant business too. You could see several French golfers on the course for their local course knowledge and expertise - Raphael Jacquelin, Thomas Levet and others. Things were getting serious.
The crowds were noticeably growing too with some of the familiar faces nodding to us after encounters the day before. We wanted to ensure we took in everything. We sat in the sun by the beer tents and just basked and talked about golf and life. We took souvenir-like pictures, watched golf carts ferrying greens keepers behind the scenes and watched the TV crew setup floating cameras on water hazards. We just felt that our last day would have the most ridiculous crowds and this 2nd day would be our best chance to get uninterrupted views of anything.
We left the course satisfied and wandered off onto the buses taking us back into Paris. We didn't head back to our apartment. We walked by the Seine, wandered around curio and souvenir shops, lined up to go into Notre Dame and enjoyed as much of Paris in the fall as we could.
With the sun still shining in Paris, we walked around the University / Sorbonne streets. Aimlessly wandering Rue de la Huchette, we walked into Mulberry St. looking at the Happy Hour sign and feeling like a snack. Pub finger food and drinks later, we were off wandering again.
As darkness descended, we discovered a Piano Bar populated with a mix of tourists, students and locals. Seated at a table with lads from England, the night descended rapidly into chaos and revelry.
We'd checked off a lot of boxes, spent a lot of time together. At this point, our last day was just a bonus.
Thursday, September 27th
The crowds thronged the course on the last day with fancy dresses and attitudes to match. It was going to be a great tournament and we had a tinge of regret that we wouldn't be able to stay to take in the tournament atmosphere.
The 3rd practice day had a shortened schedule as the teams had to head back for the opening ceremony. We took one long final look at the course now honed and cut to perfection before heading off to the concourse for other entertainment.
As it turns out, the US team did a group autograph session in front of their locker room and their section of the clubhouse for about 20 minutes. It was total chaos. Huge crowds thronged the area, marshals tried in vain to get people to disperse and after some time, there appeared to be a premature end.
We took the opportunity to have free lessons for PGA Tour professionals.
The opening ceremony had performances by The Kaiser Chiefs, speeches and introductions of the players, the reveal of the opening morning fourball match-ups and a rocket flyby.
The practices, speeches and our week was finally over. We trooped slowly off the course and headed back into the gift shop for one last spot of shopping for the family and to quench the withdrawal symptoms we were already feeling.
Some of left with physical souvenirs but we all left with memories and a promise that we would definitely do this again.
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