Fabulous Wimbledon

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July 8th
I awake knowing that this is truly going to be a special day. Doug and Joan surprised Tom and I with tickets for the whole family to go to Wimbledon. As soon as we booked this trip Tom started looking into getting tickets for this Grand Slam event but came up empty handed. Not only are we going to the tournament but we actually have tickets for Court 1 during the 4th round of play. Tom and I have been to Roland Garros (The French Open), US Open in New York, and the Indian Wells tournament in the Desert. Being able to go to Wimbledon is a definite bucket list item and we couldn't be more excited.
Doug decided that he and Tom must go to the Hyde Park tennis courts and begin our day with a friendly game of tennis. Off they went with a promise to be back in time to hop on the underground at Paddington Station and head out to the matches. We knew before we took off that we had 3 fabulous matches ahead of us on Court 1. We arrived at the Underground unsure as to what train we needed to take to get to the Southfields stop and Wimbledon. Underground trains are slightly different to the Metro in Paris which has their line to go to from one side of town to the other. But in London they have the main line then off shoots that they call "district" line that circle around a specific area within the main line. Wimbledon happened to be on one of those off shoot lines. As the trains approached we worried because is was possible to get on the wrong off shoot line and end up miles away from where you needed to be. As we waited on the platform I noticed a couple of locals waiting as well with a "Wimbledon" cooler in tow. We knew exactly where they were headed. I went up and asked them if they were going to the matches and they confirmed that was their destination. She said we could follow them onto the appropriate train when it arrived. A train approached and I peered over the crowd and looked in their direction. She met my gaze and shook her head no. The train arrived and departed while we remained on the platform......the next train came I saw our new friend walk towards the train and peer into its window to read the map...the six of us inched our way toward the opened doors waiting to leap in and then she backed away and said "no not this one." Crest fallen we backed away again and waited, the kind woman came up to us and confirmed that the next train was our "district" train to Wimbledon and when it arrived well boarded and awaited anxiously for it to arrive so we could begin what was to be a fabulous day on the Wimbledon grounds.
Hundreds of us disembarked from the train at the Southfields Station and we like lemmings headed towards a cliff, followed the crowd down a narrow street towards what we hoped would be the tournament grounds. The sign said "Wimbledon tournament grounds 12 minute walk. As we walked I held I Tom's hand and was free to gaze around at our surroundings while we followed the crowd. Beautiful row houses lined the streets on one side with an explosion of colorful flowers spilling from every crevasse. On the opposite side of the street were more formal single family homes. Each unique in their architecture yet all filled with flowers as you would see in a formal English garden.
We finally arrived. We were there standing on the Wimbledon grounds, the same place where we watched countless tennis sets be played on Television. Again the setting was so formal, refined, and casual at the same time. Terraces everywhere spilling thousands of multi-colored flowers. It was absolute eye candy. The British were so formal and yet so friendly and helpful. We toured the grounds and then when to our assigned seats to watch the preset matches on Court one. Frankly we couldn't believe our luck. 1st was Serena Williams who defeated Carla Suarez Navarro. 2nd was Coco Gauff who was defeated by Simona Halep and 3rd we watched Novak Djojovic defeat Ugo Humbert. All 3 matches went quickly and the crowd was treated to a 4th mixed doubles match which was really fun to watch. As we sat and watched I realized I fell into a state of complacency. I had to remind myself I wasn't watching this on TV, I was actually here! The day was amazing and our smiles still last many days later. So special to come to London with Doug, Joan and the girls to a place that is so special to all of us. I will keep pictures of this in my minds eye forever and never forget how lucky we are to have done this.
Tomorrow is not planned we have a free day to gallivant around London as we wish.............more later.

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