Paris Days 3 and 4

The REAL Notre Dame, and THB cannot, definitely cannot, see it from his hotel room (shout out to PT and BP who took this pic just a few days before THB and KM arrived). Is that scum floating on the river's surface?

 Day 3, Paris, Monday, July 29

Breaking News: Actually, it is Day 2 news. After scouting how long it would take to get from VB to T&F, THB and KM realized we could not get from one to the other without either leaving VB early or missing the beginning of T&F. So we posted the VB tix on the Paris O's app, the only place to resell tix. Done and sold. The organizers take 5% of the face value from the seller and add 10% of the base price to the buyer. There very own Stubhub. No negotiating, the price is always set at the face value. From watching TV, it appears that all the seats have tushies in them. Of course, on TV they are often showing French athletes and teams. We have one more set of tix at the resale site; that VB session is a quarterfinal and the teams playing that match will be known at the end of the round-robin now in process. When the contestants are known, we think the tix will sell quickly. Plan B is to pull them back and post them individually as right now they are on sale as a  pair. 

Today: THB and KM head to THB's fave boulangerie on the Rue de Turenne, Tout Autour de Pain. Yunn-eeee! A quick rest and off to the nearby Pompidou for art and an excellent lunch at the  rooftop restaurant, Georges. It was growing hotter and we repaired to our a/c  blessed rooms. During lunch (in the suite) we agreed to add the first of our extra sessions and bought tix on the resale app for an early morning session of two handball matches tomorrow. The easily fit into our free day. Great adapting based after seeing what was going on locally.

Before heading out for VB (now THB is getting confused, what day is it?), THB watched a real rarity: the Joker was playing Rafa in the second round- it is doubtful they have met this early since they were teenagers. Rafa did not survive.

The volleyball match was a first round match which just lucked out to be Women's USA vs China. The way the points in the round robin are assigned: 2 points for winning, 1 point for loser if a game 5, 0 points for loser if no game 5 (winner closes out match winning 3 games)

This match: the first four games were split (first to 25, must win by 2). The decider is to 15 and China won 15-13. THRILLING!! 

In the prior O's that fans attended, one ticket got you two matches. 2024 it gets you one match and this match was so good, it was well worth paying for only one.

Light dinner in the room, time to get some sleep.

Le Tout Autour de Pain

How to wash sidewalks without having to put up No Parking signs!

Pompidou Museum

Children's furniture was special exhibit

Duchamp was in permanent collection and not in special exhibit

Gabriel Giandelli 

Christian Schad

Donald Judd (not many American artists on display)

early Serra

Gerhard Richter 

Georges on rooftop of Pompidou: rigatoni, tuna tartare with mango, melon, two soft drinks, bottle of water, and a pavlova for dessert, $1135 (ed. note: THB neither proofreads nor types very well), $135

everything excellent

and one dish was over-the-top great

Rafa not ready to take on Joker

Best buy: a metro card for the week, gets you  anywhere you want to go including the train to O Stadium, and you only have to tap in, no tapping out (at least during the O's) so all entries are same price

VB venue, in one of the pavilions that makes up Paris Expo

Huge open area before getting to seats, this space has been redesigned for what is normally a convention site

view from our seats; sight lines were very good, the seats themselves were little plastic tubs, hard and close to the adjacent seats. Arena held 15K fans

with all the lights on

score with only a few points left in the match

 Day 4, Paris, Tuesday July 30

Dept of Transportation: THB and KM did 17K steps on Day 3 (each, not combined). No wonder we were so exhausted.

Both got an excellent night's sleep except we had a 9am Women's Team Handball session (two matches) now on our schedule. We allowed a bit less time to get to the venue (and added that the sleep amount). Team Handball is in same complex as VB, so metro is the same, just turn right for Handball and left for VB when exiting. There was no queue to enter, and almost none at the concessions stands, so THB did his shopping: 2 t-shirts and an Olympic pin, $77

THB and KM love handball, we have been to sessions at our last 3 O's together. While we had no rooting interest, and neither match was particularly close, we had a great time. And the between matches time was highly entertaining (almost an oxymoron for the O's, which are uniformly miserable to watch). 

Now back to the game: this is soccer, er, football, played on a wide rectangle kind of the size of a basketball court, 6' high and maybe 9' wide (aha, 2m x 3m) net at each end, no defender but the goalie allowed more than one foot inside the 10 meter semi-circle, and attacking players can jump into  the protected zone before shooting at the net before landing. The player with the small-ish ball has to dribble after a few steps are taken. So, not played against a wall or inside a boxed in court with a hard, small ball...not that type of handball.

the rings outside Handball venue

the line waiting to take selfies with rings in background

the Handball pavilion

entertainment

Germany romped over Slovenia, then Norway squeezed the life out of Korea

Phryge the O Mascot, pronounced Fire-Gay????

THB gets to see his dinner being made, priceless

You don't want the cream on top? Sorry, THB is cutting back

Observations: 

• There are a ton of Europeans (Britain having exited a number of years ago) and they share similar experiences in music, cheers, and even a common language (English). That means that at the urging of the venue announcers (most don't understand the French is THB's guess, they wait for the American English translation), everybody takes part, singing along (even when the songs are in English), waves their hands, etc., all in synch.
  
• There was a world-wide ticket lottery, not by region or country. It is hard to tell how many fellow-country people got tickets as they are no longer sitting next to them. It also means blocks of people from the same country are not sitting together. It definitely takes away some  of the outrageous nationalism...except for the hosts, who are pretty tame compared to other countries.
• In VB, there are no more line judges with little flags to indicate in or out, it is up to ref to make the call. The coach can challenge a touch/no touch call. 
• There are no electronic aids to determining whether a tennis referee can undo a mistaken call (THB was watching during the Coco kerfuffle)

Paris O's Days 1 and 2

No, this is not a hot air balloon. It is a shot to KM and THB in front of the O Torch. This is not a close-up, you need a (free) ticket to get a time slot. We've got one, for some time in late September....2026

 

Day 1, Paris, Saturday, Jully 27

Arrival: From SFO to Hotel Citadine - all went smoothly, built in plenty of time for transfer in Frankfurt, hotel was ready for us, THB got an upgrade, KM is in the studio. Hotel was not full (hence upgrade), no surprise as most O cities expect overflows of attendees, and when you subtract tourists and locals that avoid the place, it is a net loss. Only Surprise: no hot water until 7pm, fix is in process. 

waiting for the bus to arrive; both inbound and outbound planes were parked quite a distance from the terminal

O stadium went by in a flash, we'll be here 5 or maybe more T&F night sessions. Taxi stand ready for us, $60 and about 1 hr ride, slowed down by a car that skidded off the freeway into a decent size ditch (it was not blocking any lanes) and intermittent drizzle

One bedroom upgrade

complete with kitchen (no pots for stove)

view from THB's room: Les Halles is now a shopping mall

{ed. note NOT} Notre Dame without scaffolding, the renovations from a 2019 fire were just completed  

Citadines Hotel, Les Halles location; nice shopping area, big Metro station right outside the front door. and another a few meters away. Asked a big guy in elevator if he was going to any events. He has been here for three weeks, works for BBC, and looked exhausted. 

Dinner spot a few meters away

THB and KM do our usual, sharing meals, $60 with small beer and large water

Book Review: The Known World, Edward P. Jones (novel, #4 on NYT top 100 of 21st C, narrated by Kevin R. Free, pub'd 2004): a long story set mainly on a farm owned by a free black man with approximately 30 slaves, none free, all owned by the "master."  The narrator is fabulous and eventually the listener realizes no person of color is even close to being really free (with one exception, and she could pass for "white"). Highly Recommended

 Day 2, Paris (Sunday), July 28

A Day of Strolling and Testing Commutes: THB planned Day 2 to be a respite from jet lag. Good thing, because we had quite a bit of validation to do as well as sightseeing, ending up putting in 15K steps and numerous metro rides (KM got us weekly cards and plastic lanyard holders: easy peasy). Weather perfect, on the fringe of warm, breezy, fine in the shade.

{ed. note: on day 2 the pics did not load in time-taken order on the I-phone - another first - nor on the download....an old problem re-appears}

First (ed. note: enough with the firsts}, THB made a trip to the fitness center, then we gave the hotel "buffet" breakfast a fair test ($20/pp...not great) and headed out via the metro to one of the main areas along the Seine towards where the torch was installed (" the cauldron" is in the Tuileries), and later went out to the VB venue and tried to get to the O Stadium. Here is the day in pictures:

fitness center: rowing machine with water churning from the rowing, a first for THB who has been in many a hotel fc

fitness center second: a hand grinder churning water at the user's feet. It has been a day for surprises and it is only 6am. 

view of lobby from the first floor: coffee machine accessible 24 hrs/day

the sink stopper: no way to close it, none. Another first (it is only 6:17 am); shower control unique, and plenty of hot water

 

another first: push-button on/off button

THB standing in middle of huge street with no car traffic and the Arc de Triomphe

large O merch store, THB and KB are two of first inside at opening bell (10am) and small purchases made, though checkout took over 10 minutes. This pic was taken 10 minutes after the opening.

time to refuel with nutella crepe ($7.50)

KM and THB are sharing everything

We are trying to get a look at the torch. You need to get a free time slot to get up close and personal (see above)

not Notre Dame

Another shot of THB and KM in front of the torch ed. note: just a repeat of the picture at top of the post

(below) This British Commonwealth woman heard us talking about getting a time slot for the torch. She was having no luck,  so KM explained they are overloaded with requests. She then told us her story: she's been here for a while, she works for some highly ranked doubles tennis player (Aussie) and, because of many cancellations, he "got" to play singles against Novak Djokovic in the first round. So, even though many matches were rained out, they put Novak on center court, closed the roof, and she got to sit in the player's box ... her guy (of course) lost, she explained since he is really here for doubles, so he didn't give it his best effort..who could tell, Novak basically rolls everyone until the semi's or finals. Plus she is having a hell of time getting back to UK to attend a funeral tomorrow (train problem due to arson). Watch, tomorrow will be the only time slot open for years. Does she go to the  funeral (note the black dress...she's not even bothering to change).

the Westfield mall under THB's window. His day for butt brush (and he hasn't even told the followers about the metro yet

NOT ND

So Not ND

Not real birds

Breakfast buffet, KM and THB the only takers

Site of opening ceremony, now just another not clean river in the middle of a big city

Huge tapestry let's us know we are close to the hotel

Dinner around the corner: Caesar with dressing on the side (more like a regular iceberg lettuce salad) with a hard boiled egg, tomatoes, and chicken slices, a margherita pizza (they forgot the arugula) , large Moretti, and a lemonade, $50. 

Book Review: When We Cease To Understand The World, Benjamin Labatut (#83 on NYT top 100 of 21st C, " non-fiction" novel, translated from the Spanish by Adrian West, read by Adam Barr, pub'd 2021): THB loves truisms, and this short book combines two:

- The path to hell is paved with good intentions

- Man does not sit quietly in the room

Profiles of scientists who were dedicated to finding new ways to move knowledge forward during the last two centuries, despite losing their minds and/or their understanding of the impact on humanity as was known when then they were pushing the boundaries. The ideas and individuals are real, the stories told by the author may not be (e.g., one seems based on the Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann). Highly Recommended