Day 15

Day 15

Day 15 started with a behind‑the‑scenes tour of Roland‑Garros, which was honestly even cooler than I expected. We learned about the history of the stadium — built in 1928 for France’s Davis Cup team and named after Roland Garros, the pioneering aviator. The tour took us through the press room, the player locker rooms, and the quiet little corridors players walk through right before stepping onto the courts.

We even got to watch Moïse Kouamé, who’s only 17 and already competing professionally, practicing on Philippe‑Chatrier, the main show court. He played in this year’s French Open, entering the junior draw and making a solid run — one of those young players people are starting to pay attention to. Watching him train on an empty Chatrier, with every shot echoing through the stadium, felt surreal. They’ve also just started hosting a summer tournament that runs into August, so we caught part of a men’s match before heading out.

From there, we went back to Notre‑Dame, this time to actually go inside and explore. It’s impossible to walk in without thinking about the 2019 fire — seeing the cathedral restored and reopened. The interior is bright and breathtaking, and the stained‑glass windows look absolutely incredible now that they’ve been cleaned and restored. It’s one of those places where you just stand still for a minute and take it in.

Next stop was the Paris Mint shop so we could add a few pieces to the coin collection — always a fun little tradition.

For our final French dinner, we went to La Jacobine, which was the perfect ending. Since the weather finally decided to behave, we ordered French onion soup (no pictures because it disappeared instantly). We also had Tajine de Poulet Fermier, Cuisse de Canard du Sud‑Ouest, and Coq au Vin — all so good it made us wish we had one more night here just to eat it again.

After eating, it was back to the hotel to sadly pack for our flight back to the USA tomorrow — the part of the trip nobody ever looks forward to.Read more