Have you ever gotten a really exciting, engaging Christmas letter, that you couldn't wait to read? Me neither. Except for one: Terry, husband of my college roommate at Furman (also named Lynn), often writes one that we happily anticipate. So when Terry and Lynn said they were off to the Olympics, their son and friends in tow, I immediately signed them up for a guest post. Since everyone else I know (including us) planned to avoid Paris like the plague this summer and watch the Olympics in safe and air conditioned comfort, I was thrilled to have these courageous adventure travelers to help us out. Turns out they made a brilliant decision.
Here is the report from our team:
"Ignoring the pleas on Instagram from Parisians begging us to stay away, and surviving United’s cuisine and sardine passenger packing, we arrived to join another 12 million visitors, for the Paris Olympics. The city, bathed in warm summer sunshine, was as lovely as ever.
"We shared space with our group in three airbnbs scattered around Parmentier in the 11th. Like most Parisians living with too many people in too-small apartments, we depended on Paris’ welcoming neighborhood parks and corner cafes for our living rooms and backyards. Each morning early risers could spill out of the apartments to the cafe below to plot our day over café au lait and pain au chocolat. Quelle routine! As others got up, they could lean out the window to see what progress was being made on the planning. The picture below was taken looking up from our café at a few of the jet-lagged late risers.
"Parts of the city and most access to the Seine were fenced off to ensure security for the opening ceremony, but there was much to see anyway. If we couldn’t get into Notre-Dame, we could hear the evening organ recital at the second largest church in Paris, St. Eustache; we could walk the Champs-Elysées without any traffic, tour the three museums in les Invalides almost without other visitors, and admire the left bank undisturbed.
"The Hôtel de Ville was decked out, including areas for games, cooling tourists down, offering information and restrooms, eager volunteers, and family entertainment. Outside of Paris Centre, neighborhoods were quiet, Paris seemed remarkably normal—with many Parisians off for les vacances; the Assemblée Nationale abandoned except for the coca cola delivery truck, and the corner of St. Germain and St. Michel was empty of students.
"This was a remarkably digitalized Olympics, with apps for transportation, events information, transportation directions, the buying and selling of tickets. There was no room for scalpers, no paper tickets, everything was on-line and worked remarkably well. We still needed maps ourselves, being of a certain age, but were impressed by just how well everything worked. Until it didn’t. We made it to the Stade de France for the Rugby 7s only to find after the matches ended, one of two major metro stations, the one closest to the Stade had been closed just as the crowds left the stadium. The reason—too many people—and we were directed to the next closest, a terrifically modern and efficient new station, but an unshaded, 90 degree walk at least a mile away.
"And there were lots of free spectator opportunities. We’d never seen Canal St. Martin or, Père LaChaise Cemetery, the resting place for Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. Time trial cycling whirled around La Bastille for most of a day despite a drizzle, and the flame was anchored in the Tuileries. We missed the triathlon swimming in the Seine—the e-coli count was too high, but it did go off the next day.
"Crowds were impressive and complicated by security and matches running overtime. But the Parisian reputation for surliness towards foreigners no longer is deserved—waves of volunteers and staff tried valiantly to be helpful.
"If you couldn’t get into events, there was much to see outside. Who knew that right next to tennis was one of Paris' horticulture gardens? Le Sacré Coeur is still lovely at sunset, and the Parc des Nations at Parc de la Villette, with houses from India and Taiwan to Slovakia and the Netherlands, offered lessons in archery at the Mongolia House (evidently Mongolians are great archers and are particularly good shooting while riding at full speed on wild ponies). At the Parc there were also sobering reminders of war in Ukraine.
"At Club France, you could try out various olympic sports yourself: field hockey, cross country, cycling, and what it would be like to be a Paralympian. Thousands watched France win a fencing match, and Tuga, the mime, was there as well, only to show up the next night at beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower.
"Food at Club France was excellent, as to be expected, but at many of the individual event venues, there was not much to get excited about. We took a picture of the menus as proof.
"There was merch to be had, and now we can sit at home, contemplating our visit, over coffee in our souvenir mug. The Olympics are a remarkable celebration of human aspirations. As we watched skateboarding on television a few nights ago, with the Concord’s obelisk and the Eiffel tower in the background, we were struck by the vision and ambition of those who decided to turn Paris, with its beauty, history, art and culture, into a stage for the games and impressed at the extent to which they succeeded."
I award our reporting team a gold medal for their guest post. Mille mercis!
Did anyone else attend the olympics? We were glued to the TV, it was so fun and inspiring!
Favorite READS and VIEWS: Cinda, by email, has a book recommendation for us: In France Profound : The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People, by T.D. Allman. This one is set in southwest France. Natalia has a feel-good book for us this week: Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde, a novel about finding joy. And if you're looking for an interesting read this week, try Karen McCann's blog, always entertaining. She pays a visit to Immigration Station on Angel Island, and learns all about our sorry history of taking in immigrants there. Sadly we still demonize the immigrants that are essential to supporting our country. She quotes FDR: “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
On TV, two European favorites are back: Emily in Paris (Netflix), and Signora Volpe (Acorn), set in Umbria.
