Tennis Louis Lumière: La vie en rose

Another sunny day and my husband - and tennis partner - had an unexpected day off. What better way to make the most of Paris than by organising another game of tennis! We booked at the last minute and with only an hour to go it was more a question of what was still available rather than carefully choosing where we wanted to play. We decided to take pot luck.  
Louis Lumière in the 20th arrondissement is on the edge of the city, close to the Péripherique at Porte de Bagnolet. We arrived by metro, crossed the tramway which now circles Paris -  a recent addition which has had the effect of smartening up the outer fringes of the city - and quickly found what we thought was the court we had booked in rue Louis Lumière. It was part of an impressive sports ground with an immaculate running track, football pitches and basketball courts, but after showing our ID at passport control reception we were told that we were in the wrong place - these were the Bagnolet courts, Louis Lumiere was further along the road.
Two minutes walk away we found what we were looking for - another equally impressive sports ground with running track, athletics field and football pitches. At home in London you'd be delighted to have such fabulous facilities in your neighbourhood and lucky to have a centre like this in your borough - here were two within a stones throw of each other and, if athletics is your thing, you could use them for free. A school group was just leaving as we arrived. 
The tennis courts were a bit of afterthought here and were less well-maintained than we have become used to with a slight covering of moss in the shady corners and a fresh fall of leaves around the edges for our balls to disappear into. The court surface was constructed in sections - rather like an old motorway (or indeed the Péripherique which was just on the other side of a wall) - criss-crossed with a series of cracks which would occasionally send a ball awry adding a new element to my game. But it was a beautiful, sunny late autumn day and there were roses in bloom along one edge of the court with only the roar of the traffic to remind you that you were in fact in one of the less lovely parts of Paris. Not a great court, but a great game nonetheless. 

Louis Lumière
30 Rue Louis Lumière
75020 Paris