My wife, Carol, and I ended up seeing 8 events in Paris over 5 days. I had previously bought 4 sets of tickets about 6 months ago, and then we picked up 3 more sets while we were there. One event was free.
Our events:
- Tuesday afternoon - Soccer - Dominican Republic vs. Uzbekistan at an urban sports venue called Parc Des Princes. They battled to a 1-1 tie and this was pool play so both sides were happy enough …
- Wednesday morning - Triathlon on Avenue Montaigne. This was an event on the streets of Paris. As a result we didn’t see much of the event, but we saw a lot of the other spectators. Very festive mood. Lots of security everywhere.
- Wednesday evening - Tennis at Roland Garros stadium. This was perhaps our highest visibility event as we got to see Rafael Nadal / Carlos Alcarez lose to a couple of Americans in mens doubles. Maybe Nadal’s last tournament?? We are tennis fans so it was a very sad moment to see him lose.
That was followed by a marathon match between Donna Vekic of Croatia (who eventually went on to take the silver women’s single) and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. This match started out horribly, with Marta going down 4 love in games in the first set, before ending in 3 sets with a tiebreaker than went something like 12 points. Exhausting and riveting - Vekic won after failing to close out 3 match points, and Marta also had a match point. So then all 12,000 fans headed out to get home on the metro at about 1 am. Guess what? The metro is closed that late. Lots of scrambling for ubers and taxis with all the attendant price gouging you might expect. We ended up stumbling down one of the roads leading towards our hotel and lucked into the last bus that took us to Porte Maillot which was where our hotel was located. A memorable night! - Thursday - Beach Volleyball under the Eiffel Tower. This was perhaps the most memorable venue of the olympics - a temporary stadium erected on the Champs De Mars - practically underneath the eiffel tower. It was hot! No shade. I felt especially bad for the egyptian women’s team, that had to wear complete black body coverings, as they played the Spanish women, who were skimpy red bikinis. The spanish won. The Qatari team was very good, but looked Sudanese to me. I had a chance to meet one on the grounds (in this event, the athletes and participants mingled freely - not true in other events), and I asked him if he was originally from Sudan. “No man,” he said, “I’m from Qatar.”
- Thursday evening - 3x3 basketball at Place de La Concorde
3x3 basketball is a new olympic sport - this is only its second olympics. I didn’t really know the rules and evidently neither did the US team - who let the Slovakians score 21 points (which ends the game) and walk triumphantly off the court. I was going: “what’s happened - there are still 22 seconds to play.” It’s timed but it’s also first team to 21. Now I know. Also the Canadian women’s team featured a set of identical twins. They ended up in 4th place. During the 3x3 basketball there was an enormous downpour, and the basketball arena is under a sort of circus tent - but there are lots of people who are not protected by the tent, and they all came down to shelter from the storm. The games were halted while the storm passed, and a DJ entertained the crowd. French fans love to sing. They especially love to sing the marseillaise (their national anthem - a revolutionary ballad that can become an earworm) - but “Allumer Le Feu” (Light the fire) is a big favorite too. Games resumed and we once more found ourselves late at night looking for a way back to our hotel. This time saved by a taxi. - Friday morning - mixed doubles in Archery - at Les Invalides. Another incredibly beautiful Venue - recalling France’s greatness in Napoleonic times. Archery is pretty boring as a spectator sport. Personally, I believe they need to change the scoring system, as these archers are all so good that it is not uncommon to have 4 shots be four bullseyes. So if you miss the bullseye, that’s it for you. At the same time, the bullseye target is pretty large. Whey not add a smaller target in the middle worth 11 points??
- Friday Afternoon - Field Hockey at Les Colombes This was two men’s field hockey matches. Carol and I had never seen field hockey before - it was Ireland vs New Zealand and France (Les Bleus) vs Republic South Africa. Ireland and South Africa won. Les Colombes is a suburb of Paris - about 6 km from Porte Maillot. One of the intentions of the Paris Olympic Committee was having venues out in the Parisian suburbs and this place looked nice but very much more working class than central Paris. Now with all sorts of olympics fans trooping by all the time.
- Saturday morning - Badminton at Porte La Chapelle This was the most exciting match we saw - the Korean champion An Se Young (who would go on to win a gold medal) against a long-time rival, the Japanese player Akane Yamaguchi, in the quarterfinals. Who would have thought Badminton could be so exciting-- but it was.
We left Paris on Saturday afternoon, happy but tired. A couple of themes:
- Parisians were so nice and courteous. Highly unusual, but very welcome.
- So many different ways of getting around. I’m a big fan of the Metro and the commuter rail, the RER. All the sites were accessible.
- It was hot!
Personally I am a fan. Also of sardines and kidneys … you are writing about my dream meals. 