Paris 2024 Olympics 01: Arrival & Gymnastics

Friday, July 26, 2024

I woke up earlier than planned this morning when my phone began ringing at 06:30 – it was my mother calling. I groggily answered the phone and she said that they were still in Colorado! In my half-awake state, I thought she was joking and that she was calling me from Reykjavik during their layover. It was no joke though: their flight from Colorado to Reykjavik had indeed been cancelled due to some technical problem with the aircraft. They were staying at a hotel at the airport and their new flight would be departing in the morning (Denver time). Their new flight would get them into Paris roughly 12 hours later than scheduled, but it wouldn’t interfere with our Olympics plans. My mom was understandably upset by the experience and I tried to focus on the fact that their new flight was still getting them to Paris in plenty of time.

My mom also mentioned that there had been some sort of sabotage attack upon the French railways overnight. I was due to take a train from Geneva to Paris in a few hours, so I hurriedly checked to see if my train was delayed or cancelled. Thankfully my train was operating as scheduled. The attacks had impacted the trains running to the north and west of Paris, while the major line running southeast (towards Switzerland) had been foiled.

After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, I packed up and checked out so I could head to the train station. Before boarding, I grabbed a sandwich and some snacks for the journey. My train departed at 14:30 and I was lucky to have the window seat on the train. Every seat was taken and it was a bit of a madhouse getting onto the train (some American family tried to cut the queue in front of me while boarding, but I roughly pushed past them – they should have waited in the queue like the rest of us). During the journey, I did some work and then watched some TV shows I had downloaded on my phone.

I arrived at Gare de Lyon in Paris at 17:45 and was shocked by how cool the weather was in Paris – I needed to wear my hoodie to stay warm! Our hotel was a short walk from the station and it took me roughly ten minutes to arrive. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be allowed to check in since the reservation was under my mother's name, but she had emailed the hotel to let them know about the situation. Everything went smoothly at check-in and the staff were friendly.

Our room was located in the rear courtyard of the hotel, one of a few rooms with an exterior entrance. I was pleasantly surprised by the room: there was a large double bed for my parents and the fold-out sofa bed for me was shockingly comfortable. There was a small desk and a decent bathroom, but not much room to maneuver around otherwise (though this was because of the sofa bed – if that had been folded up, the room would have been quite spacious).

I went out in search of somewhere to have dinner after getting settled in at the hotel. There were several restaurants nearby and I eventually settled on one across the street because they were showing the Opening Ceremony on their TVs. I managed to get a table in the rear of the restaurant, but it had a great view of one of the TVs, so it was perfect. I ordered pasta carbonara and a beer (it was happy hour…), which was a delicious dinner!

The Opening Ceremony of the Pairs 2024 Summer Olympics was a unique and creative ceremony, with the athletes sailing down the River Seine while different performances took place along the river at the various major sights around Paris. The restaurant (and our hotel) was just two blocks from where the ceremony was starting on the Seiner, but access to that area was heavily restricted so I couldn’t get in to see it in person.

Lady Gaga opening the ceremony by performing a French cabaret song. Further down the river, a rock band performed from the windows of the Conciergerie, with images of a beheaded Marie Antoinette singing with them (the Conciergerie is where she was imprisoned just prior to her execution). Dancers performed a can-can dance, while another segment featured a more interpretive dance that focused on Notre Dame. The bridges across the Seine also became performance stages, with the main focal point being a fashion show of sorts which prominently featured drag queens! The entire Opening Ceremony was very much a show of inclusivity and acceptance of all people, races, and sexual orientations. In a pre-taped segment, three people dressed as clowns (two men and a woman) had a suggested ménage a trois.

The weather soon took a turn for the worse as the festivities continued and it began to rain quite heavily. It didn’t impact any of the performances though, except perhaps the can-can which appears somewhat subdued. I later learned that the dancers had indeed had to scale it back as their performance space began very slick with the rain and, had they done the full kicks of the dance, they could have slipped and fallen right into the river!

One of my favorite moments was when the La Marseillaise was performed by an opera singer as she stood atop the Grand Palais with a huge French flag. It was a beautiful performance, especially since it was done in the pouring rain.

Throughout the Opening Ceremony, the athletes’ boats would be showcased as each country was introduced. It was a brilliant way to break up the monotony of the parade of athletes with the various performances. I eagerly awaited the announcement for the team from Vietnam, which consisted of only a few athletes. Nevertheless, I was still proud to see Vietnam at the Olympics!

Throughout the ceremony, a masked figure was seen carrying the torch across Paris: riding a boat down the Seine, running across the rooftops of Paris, even appearing on stage with a performance of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables.

The ceremony concluded at the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero, where the main stage had been setup. Once the athletes and performers had reached the Trocadero, another masked figure came riding a mechanical horse down the Seine, with the Olympic flag for a cape. When the rider reached the Trocadero, they presented the official Olympic flag to be raised and flown during the duration of the games (the flag was accidentally hung upside down!).

The figure with the torch then raised up from a trapdoor in the stage to present it to an athlete, who began the final procession of the Olympic flame to the official cauldron. I had expected the cauldron to be located at the Eiffel Tower, but I was shocked when the torch was taken onto a boat and sailed back towards the Louve and the Tuileries Gardens. Once there, more athletes (including Paralympians) brought the flame to the cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens. The cauldron itself was brilliant: it resembled a hot air balloon, with the ring of the cauldron itself in place of the traditional basket. Fun fact: the very first hot air balloon had been flown in Paris in the late 1700s. Once the cauldron had been lit, the entire thing began to fly into the air like a proper balloon! It was an incredible sight! The flame in the cauldron was not real though – it was lit up by LED lights rather than an actual flame. Paris wanted to be a more sustainable, environmentally friendly games and they reasons that having a real flame burning throughout the Games did not fit with this vision. I think it was a brilliant idea and I hope future host cities will take note.

The final performance of the Opening Ceremony was Celine Dion singing Edith Piaf’s “L’Hymme a l’Amour” from atop the Eiffel Tower. This was her first performance in years after being diagnosed with the rare “stiff person’s syndrome” and I was excited to hear her sing. Her voice was exquisite as always and her rendition of this idyllic song was powerful and moving. There was no better way to end the Opening Ceremony!

I eventually went to bed around 01:00 and I set my alarm for 08:00 in the morning so I could be up for when my parents arrived. Their flight landed shortly after 06:00, so I figured they wouldn’t be arriving until two hours later. After so much planning, the Olympics were finally here!

 
Saturday, July 27, 2024

I was woken up this morning at 07:30 by a knocking at the hotel room door. My parents had managed to arrive at the hotel much earlier than I had anticipated! I was glad that they had made it to Paris now and we could focus on enjoying the Olympics. We were all exhausted, so we decided to relax for a bit at the hotel. Both of my parents took a short nap while I just relaxed.

Around 10:00, we left the hotel in search of somewhere to have brunch. We stumbled on a delightful café called Clint nearby and had a very tasty brunch. I had pancakes with bacon, while my parents both had eggs benedict. The bathroom at the café was very… unique. The toilet was a retro shade of orange that looked like it came directly from the 1970s, and the toilet itself resembled an ice cream cone.

I suggested to my parents that we go for a walk along the Seine and head over to Notre Dame to see the progress that has been made on the reconstruction. My mom was excited by the idea, but I was concerned that the walk would be too taxing for my dad. For a long time now, he has needed to get a hip replacement and long periods of walking cause a lot of pain; he’s had a few steroid injections to help dull the pain and he had one shortly before leaving for Paris as well. He said the walk would be fine though. Thankfully we had all been to Paris before, so we didn’t need to make sightseeing a focus of our time in the city.

We set off to walk along the river, which proved to be slightly more difficult than I imagined. Fencing and barriers were still erected from the Opening Ceremony the night before. It didn’t prevent us from reaching the river, but it did cause us to take some detours to get around the fencing. It was interesting to see many of the stages that had been used from the ceremony, including the staircase that had been built for Lady Gaga’s performance. Many of the iconic landmarks still had their decorations hung up as well, though workers were busily taking them down this afternoon.

Notre Dame itself looked quite good from the outside – the new spire was towering over the cathedral, while the bricks on the outside looked brighter and cleaner. The reconstruction work was not yet complete, so we were unable to enter the cathedral; it was still nice to see how much progress has been made in recent years. We then made our way over to La Conciergerie and I explained to mom and dad the historical significance of the building. We could still see some red streamers from the previous night’s performance on the roof and walls. The clock located at one corner of the former prison is a truly impressive feature.

Dad needed to sit down and rest for a bit after the long walk, so we stopped at a nearby café to get some coffee. Mom had never tried Nutella before, so I ordered a crepe with Nutella for us to share as well. The weather today was still cool and rainy, so I was glad to have a warm cup of coffee.

Our first Olympic event was at 15:00 this afternoon, so, at 13:00, we took the metro over to Bercy Arena. The metro stations had great signage to direct people where to go to reach different venues, and the trains themselves had the route maps changed to highlight which stops served each venue. We had each purchased an unlimited 7-day transit pass earlier this morning, which was stored on our phones, so we just had to tap our phones at the turnstiles at the metro stations. Paris had done an excellent job making the public transit easy for spectators!

Upon arrival at Bercy Arena, we followed the signs for the entrance and there were numerous volunteers all around to direct people where to go and to answer questions. We arrived slightly before the doors of the venue opened at 13:30, but that let us get through the security and to take our time. The first round of security was a quick screening of our bags. We then had our tickets scanned and then we went through a second round of security, where our bags were better searched and they used metal detector wands to scan everyone. It sounds like a hassle, but the entire process ran smoothly, and we never had to wait in a queue for very long.

Once inside the venue, we stopped to get some drinks from the concession stands. They had commemorative cups for the Olympics: purple cups for the beer (non-alcoholic) and red cups for all other drinks. I was a bit surprised that all of the sodas, waters, teas came in bottles (plastic or glass), which were then opened and poured into the red cups – customers were not allowed to take the bottles. In addition, each cup came with a 2 EUR deposit charge that would be refunded when it was returned to any concession stand. This was meant to encourage people to return the cups so they could be washed and reused, thereby reducing waste, which I thought was a brilliant idea. My only issue was the fact that the concession stands were selling drinks in plastic or glass bottles. I would have expected them to have fountain drink dispensers to fill up the red cups, rather than going through hundreds and thousands of bottles. The bottles are recycled though, so perhaps it’s not as bad as it appears.

Event 01: Gymnastics (Artistic)

We managed to get some excellent seats for this event in the category A section (A being the best, with subsequent categories in what are considered less desirable seats). We had tickets for row six, which somehow equated to being in the 11th row due to the funky numbering done at the stadium. Nevertheless, we had amazing seats for the gymnastics!

The venue had six stations setup for the men’s gymnastics qualifications (round two): pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and floor exercise, and horizontal bar. We were sat closest to the pommel horse and the rings, with the parallel bars and horizontal bar on the far side of the venue. Today’s event was with subdivision two, with teams from Ukraine, Netherlands, Japan, China and two groups of mixed nations. The individuals in mixed nations were from the Philippines, Syria, Armenia, Kazakhstan, France, Colombia, and Australia.

The event began at 15:30 and ran for two and a half hours. The teams began at one station and would then rotate around the venue to the other stations. All of the teams were very impressive and it was difficult at times to know where to focus since everything was happening simultaneously. The man from the Philippines, Carlos Yulo, was particularly impressive throughout the event, especially on the floor exercise (he would go on to win gold in both the floor exercise and the vault!).

The Ukrainian team were enthusiastically cheered on during the event, which I thought was wonderful of the spectators. The Chinese team was, predictably, very talented. The Japanese team became a favorite for my mom because the gymnasts showed personalities both before and after their performances, engaging with the crowd, which was something that was not done by the other gymnasts.

Even though my parents were obviously exhausted after their flight to Paris, they thoroughly enjoyed their first Olympic event. I was glad to have them with me in Paris because it would make attending these games all the more fun and memorable. When the event ended at 18:00, we decided to walk back to the hotel as it was quite close.

We stopped to get some dinner at the restaurant where I had eaten the previous evening. I again had the pasta carbonara, Todd had fish and chips, while Carol had the beef skewer. She was hesitant at first to order it, but I encouraged her to give it a try. She ended up loving it and raved about how delicious the food was at the restaurant.

I was keen to head over to see the Olympic cauldron this evening, as was my mom, but my dad was feeling quite tired. We dropped him off at the hotel before taking the metro over to the Louvre. We were lucky that our hotel was located near a metro line that went directly to many of the locations around Paris we wanted to go, which meant we didn’t need to make many transfers to different lines.

Once at the Louvre, mom and I walked around the main courtyard where the glass pyramid is located. We then walked over to the Tuileries Gardens, where I explained to her about where the Tuileries palace once stood (before it was burned by the Paris Commune in 1871). It was nice to get out to do some more sightseeing with mom in Paris.

When we arrived at the location of the cauldron, we discovered that a large area around it was fenced off. To gain access to the fenced-off area, visitors needed to register a visitation time. I tried to do that, but I was unable to find any open time slots for us to visit. Happily there were some observation areas for people to view the cauldron from afar. The main area was packed with people, so mom and I decided to walk around to the other side. Once there, we were surprised to discover that the fence was a tall privacy one, blocking the view of the cauldron itself. Several chairs had been placed next to the fence and people were taking turns to stand on them to view the cauldron.

The queue for the chairs moved quickly and soon it was our turn. The cauldron and connected hot air balloon were quite impressive, even from afar! We took some quick photos before stepping aside so others could have a turn on the chairs.

We both wanted to head back to the hotel as it was getting late, so we walked along the Seine to reach the nearest metro station. The nearby Place de la Concorde was blocked off as it was being used as an outdoor venue for the Olympics, so we had to maneuver around that for a bit. We walked by a large Olympic souvenir store and we decided to go inside to see what merchandise they had for sale. The place was huge and packed with people! I found a jersey shirt with “France” written on it and the colors of the French flag, which I particularly liked. I picked out my size and decided to buy it for myself. Mom, meanwhile, found a stuffed animal of the Olympic mascot, Phryge, for my niece Jane, and T-shirts for my nephews, Jack and Luke.

With our shopping done, we went directly to the metro station and headed back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, we got ready for bed and quickly went to sleep. Overall the first day of the Olympics had been wonderful! Despite their travel headache to reach Paris, my parents had arrived in time to see some of Paris and to attend our first event. I was looking forward to these next two weeks in Paris with my parents.