Paris 2024 Olympics 02: Football

Sunday, July 28, 2024

We woke up at 07:30 this morning so we could get ready for the day. My parents opted to have breakfast at the hotel, but there wasn’t much that looked appealing to me at the buffet, so I told them not to waste the money buying me breakfast as well.

We walked over to the Bastille metro station and took the train over to the Arc de Triomphe. We took the underground pedestrian tunnel over to the arch itself and we spent some time walking around the monument. I explained to my parents what some of the frescos represented, along with some of the battle names carved into the stone. I also pointed out the eternal flame that burns in the center beneath the arch.

The three of us took a walk down the Champs Elysee for a little while. We grabbed a coffee at a nearby Starbucks and I got a belated breakfast as well. My mom had booked a visit to the Dior Galley at noon, which was located nearby, so we took her over there and dropped her at the queue. I took my dad over to a Pret a Manger so he could relax while mom was at Dior. Meanwhile, I went in search of a new camera at a store on the Champs Elysee. They had the one I wanted on display, but it turned out that they were out of stock at that store! Disappointed, I went back to Pret to meet up with my dad.

Mom’s time at the Dior Gallery lasted just over an hour, and we met her back at the entrance when she was finished. She had a very good time at the gallery, getting to see many of Dior’s gowns and learning about Christian Dior himself. She had been keen to visit the museum, and I was glad that we’d been able to fit it into our schedule.

There were still several hours before our next Olympic event, so we decided to walk over to Korea House. Various countries host hospitality houses during the Olympics where visitors can come to learn about their culture, try some of their cuisine, watch some events on TV, and sometimes meet that particular country’s athletes. I had visited Canada House during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and loved it, so I was eager to visit more houses.

The queue to get inside Korea House was quite long when we arrived. We had to preregister for admittance and had our QR codes showing that we’d registered, but the queue moved at a glacial pace. The issue holding up the line was the that they had visitors check in at four kiosks which then printed out badges/cards to be used for the actual admittance. The actual printing of the individual cards is the step that really slowed things down and it ultimately made no sense why it was necessary to enter and enjoy the house.

Once inside, we strolled around the entire house. There were some displays illustrating life in South Korea, their culture, and some traditional clothing was on display. In the central courtyard were some food stalls and a large TV showing some events. The food didn’t appeal to any of us, unfortunately, so we decided to skip having lunch, and decided to leave. Korea House was an ok hospitality house, but it didn’t have much to keep visitors entertained or engaged. Overall, we spent more time in the queue to get in than we did inside Korea House itself!

Our event for this evening was in southwest Paris, which required us to take two different metro lines. We took the RER C most of the way and exited near a mall so I could pop into a store to buy the camera. I had found a store that had it in stock and luckily it was located along the way to our venue. We still had to walk a bit from the metro station and cross over a bridge to get to the mall, but it wasn’t anything awful. Once I had the camera, we went back to the metro and went over to the venue.

We were headed to the Parc de Princes stadium for tonight’s event and the stadium turned out to be much further away from the metro than I had anticipated. It took us around 25 minutes to reach the stadium and I could tell that the long walk had worn my dad out due to his hip. As with gymnastics yesterday, the security and screening was a breeze to get into the stadium.

Event 02: Football (women’s) – Brazil vs Japan

Tonight was our first of two football games that we’d be attending at the Olympics, and we would be seeing the women’s teams from Brazil and Japan face off. Our seats in the stadium were located in the upper section and we had a fantastic view of the field, just slightly off from center field. The chairs though were incredibly uncomfortable, making it difficult to sit for an extended period of time. For dinner, we grabbed some food at the stadium – I had a cheeseburger and non-alcoholic beer (none of the venues served proper beer).

When the game got underway at 17:00, mom and I decided to cheer on the Japanese team since they had become mom’s favorite at the Olympics after the gymnastics. The first half of the game was exciting, but neither team managed to score a goal. The fans at the stadium were enthusiastic, with large groups from both Japan and Brazil cheering on their respective teams.

The second half of the game was much more energetic, with Brazil coming out strong and quickly scoring the first goal of the game. It appeared that Brazil would win the game, until Japan scored a goal during a penalty kick later in the game. When the game entered the extra minutes at the very end of the normal 90-minute play time, Japan managed to score another coal, cinching the win! It was a very exciting end to the game, making mom and me happy that Japan had won.

Riding back to the hotel on the metro was a bit miserable because the trains were packed with people. We had to make one change and then the crowds cleared up a bit. We freshened up quickly at the hotel and then went to a restaurant next door to have dinner. Mom and I shared a pizza with burrata cheese on it, which I found quite delicious.

I wanted to try and return to the Olympic souvenir store this evening to try and find another of the French jerseys that I had bought the previous evening. When I had tried on the one I had bought, I discovered that it was slightly too small since it was a fitted shirt. I left mom and dad after dinner and hurriedly made my way back over to the store near the Pont Alexander III – I was running down the Champs Elysee to reach the store before it closed. To my disappointment, the guards were putting up barriers to prevent anyone else from queueing to enter the store just as I arrived! The store was open for another 40 minutes, but the queue outside was already rather long, so I understood that they needed to cut it off at some point so the store could close on time. Nevertheless, I was angry that I had made the frantic trip out there for nothing.

I returned to the hotel for the night, where I worked on my blog while my parents watched the Olympic coverage on TV. I found it interesting to see how the games were covered in France versus how I usually see it covered in the States. I finally called it a night at midnight and went to bed.