Another report from the Paris Olympics!

Your email box is full of more opinions and descriptions of the first week and a half of the 2024 Paris Olympics than you thought possible. The Games are known over here as the Jeux Olympics 2024. It seems a bit redundant to give my perspective. But I’m going to anyway! As well as give you links to some of the more interesting posts I’ve read.

This from a woman who has been excited and looking forward to the games from the beginning: hannahmeltzer.substack.com/an-impossibly-ambitious-opening

I wrote about the lead up to the Olympics a while ago then decided to stay away from writing more as I was feeling negative and inconvenienced. It’s safe to say that most of the inhabitants of Paris felt as I did. Then came the last ten days before the Opening Ceremony. a third of the metro stops in inner Paris were shut down. Detours were set up for cars, taxis, and buses. Police, Gendarmes, and police from other countries stood on every corner. There were designated zones: red zone-very close to the event, grey zone- further away but still close, and the rest of Paris. As it turned out, my doctor’s office is in a grey zone. I had an appointment on July 18-nine days before the Opening Ceremony. I usually walk as it’s only a 25 minutes walk. As I got close to Trocadero, I was stopped by five gendarmes. FIVE! Just for me? Well, no, but for anyone walking towards Trocadero. One woman was practically in tears. She also had some kind of appointment but I couldn’t tell what without getting in her face. I explained to one of the men that I had a doctor’s appointment. I showed him the address on my phone and the confirmation of the appointment. He explained it was in a forbidden zone and I had to back-up and walk around the zone and come up from another direction. I said “But my appointment’s in 5 minutes.” Not quite true but I would never have made it if I’d done the detour. He looked at my phone again and said “OK, but you have to go around from now on.”

At that point, I thought these precautions were for the entire Olympics and possibly the ParaOlympics. I wasn’t going to be in my apartment for the three weeks of the regular Olympics but apartment sitting for a friend up in Montmartre. I was pretty sure these regulations wouldn’t affect me up there. But still,…it was all part of the communal negative complaint of the Parisian trying to live a life.

I had tickets for a Rugby Sevens qualification event on Thursday, July 26, the day before the Opening Ceremony. This would be my first taste of how well the organization of the Olympics was going to be. I walked to Gare du Nord and took the RER D to the Stade de France. I met my friend, Fatiha, on the platform. The very informative Olympic website had advised NOT taking the RER B (which stops there but goes on to Charles de Gaulle) or the metro 13. These would be too busy and crowded. The D took 10 minutes and the cars had plenty of seats. As we left the RER station, there were volunteers to show us the way. There were plenty of signs. And there were footprints on the ground guiding us to the Stade de France. As we got close to the entrance, security checked our packs. All very orderly. Then we were inside. Still no back-ups or blockages. We looked for our gate and were inside quickly. I was amazed. It was streamlined.

Rugby Sevens, for those who don’t know, is a different game than regular Rugby. It is 14 minutes long with a two minute break. It is fast, intense, and fun. The stadium was full. We saw four games with the US winning one and France wining one. The crowd, probably half French people, were into it and screaming their approval. That kind of excitement is contageous. That evening, France won again and the US lost. France won the gold. The US didn’t place. I had so much fun I actually said to a friend “I could see Rugby replacing baseball as my sport.” But, of course, they aren’t even in the same ballpark. Baseball is history, a culture, has more cliché sayings that any other sport as proved by my last sentence.

That trip was the beginning of my rethinking the 2024 Olympics. Friday night, I was invited to a friend’s apartment to watch the Opening Ceremony. And it started to rain. We had so much fun watching everything, oooing and ahhing. But mostly just glad we were inside with a roof over our heads. Here is another take on that night:

courtneymaum.substack.com/what-the-Paris-Olympics-opening-can-teach-us-about-first-drafts.

Scroll down past the interview to her take on the Ceremony.

About fifteen minutes after the incredible ending of listening to Celine Dion make her huge comeback since becoming very ill four years ago, I left to walk to the metro. The rain had stopped. Not a drop. The TV later said it was the worst July downpour in Paris history (it rarely rains in July). I’ve chatted with several people who were there and no one minded the rain. They knew that history was being made. And they were having fun. The whole thing was smiling, laughing, high-fiving fun.

I had a moment when the camera scanned buildings in the third arrondissement, behind the many spectators. I caught my breath. The beauty of Paris never ceases to bring the true meaning of wonder to my heart. I live here, I thought to myself. This is my home, this gorgeous city. After more than eleven years, I feel the miracle that is Sara living in Paris.

The next day, most of the metro stations opened. A few roads were still diverted but that is because the city has built stadiums at Trocoadero, at Concorde, and on the Champs de Mars. It was easy to get around again. In fact, it seemed to me that there were very few people around. Normally in August, most Parisians leave the city for a vacation. Half of the stores will shut down. This year, many Parisians left because of the Olympics. They were feeling the same dread I was feeling. It was eery how few people were in the streets. It’s possible that because the events are spread all across the city, and many events are in Lyon and Marseilles, that there truly aren’t that many people here when events are going on.

I started feeling sad that I hadn’t tried harder to get tickets. I was catching the Olympic fever. One friend called to ask if I’d like a ticket on August 10 to the street events at Concorde. BMX, skateboarding. I didn’t have to think about it. Yes! so I get to go to a few more events on the same day. I found the resale page and tried for tennis tickets and those little guys move faster than any of the Olympic runners. Yesterday, Barbara and I went to one of the Fan Zones. The city has set up a Fan Zone in every arrondissement with huge screens, picnic tables, the selling of drinks, and things for children to do. I had passed one in the 19th where I saw children playing on swings, running around having a wonderful time while their parents watched the events. We went to the 9th yesterday. For the second day in a row, I got caught in a bicycle race. Streets closed off. How to get to the other side? Take the metro!

Today, a friend called and said she was trying to buy more tickets. Was I interested? Yes, I said. We set a number for ‘don’t go over this, it’s too expensive.” We are going to men’s water polo on Friday. And then Sunday it will all be over. At least for a couple of weeks. On August 28, the ParaOlympics will begin.

A bientôt,

Sara