Paris O's, Days 7 and 8

                          Day 7, Paris, Friday, Aug 2

Athletic Competitor:  THB and KM totaled 24K steps combined for days 4 and 5, another 12K today

Slow start, visit the FC, hit one of our 3 top boulangeries, pick up lunch/dinner sandwiches 2 doors down, successfully put VB tix for day 7 up for sale on the Resale site, and watch one dud and one awesome Men's VB match.

the very apt building THB and DB stayed in on a prior visit to Paris

back to Brigat, in Maris, dine in a/c interior, try 3 different pastries and buy two different breads in quarter loaf quantities. All exceptional, $22 total (prepared food is cheaper here, for sure)

Zuber heads, DB and THB still have the one we bought oh so many, many years ago (maybe at this very gallery)

DB and THB support a group in Japan dedicated to keeping the Japanese crafts alive; THB will lobby to add mochi-making to the list

Police on foot seem to be always in groups of 3 (1 sometimes carrying some type automatic rifle). Most times they appear to be giving tourists assistance

group of 4 on horseback...

oops, this is a one-way street and a car is  coming...

Game 1: Brazil vs Egypt, both teams have been elixated from the quarterfinals, and somehow one of the Egyptian players or coaches cared enough to get a yellow card from ref. Over in 75 minutes, Brazil wins 3-0.  

Or maybe thee ref was reminding the offender he was on the team in yellow

Along with the most uncomfortable seats (remember they converted this convention center site for the O's), there is no way it would pass ADA requirements. The French are clearly more nimble than the average American. You put your right foot in, you pull your right foot out, you put your left foot in, and you shake it all about. You twist your body, grab the rail, and hope there is already someone in the row to steady your progress.

portable collapsible water bottles, doing their best Morandi impressions

During the break between the 1 and 5pm games: THB and KM discuss whether to see Japan vs Kenya VB match tomorrow at 1pm, a meaningless game as both have been eliminated from moving on. KM does her tech management and knowledge/research of how to manipulate the Resale app and puts our two tickets for sale individually (KM also does laundry!), which gives them a better chance of selling while increasing the risk that only one will sell. If your tix don't sell up to 12 hours in advance, they go back to the owner. Both tix sell by time we return to Hotel Citadines!

Game 2: France vs Slovenia (not Slovakia, that appears to be a different country); the top cyclist in the world - judging by the three Grand Tours - is the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian (pop. 2M) and French (pop. 68M) teams are the top 2 in their group and are fighting for the top spot to give them a more favorable match-up in the quarterfinals. 

putting on her game face

before the match starts, somebody is selected to drop a long thick pole on the floor while a LOUD BONG goes over the PA system. For once, our seats face the person dropping the pole. They cannot synch the two, though trying several times, and finally concede that this match is doomed to be haunted in VB heaven for Millenia.

She's ready for her photo op

One flag, just turned on its side, is used for both teams

And, what a match it was!! These are two highly skilled teams and though Slovenia (not Slovakia) wins 3-0, the games are tight, flipping back and forth, until the mostly French crowd is disappointed and thrilled.

the guy supplying close-up candid shots of the crowd

Look mom, we are on the big screen (not that THB can tell what is on the big screen, the little screen, any screen)

two seats down from THB, another dad is watching judo on his small screen in his lap; France is winning another gold medal!

Giba, a former star Brazilian team member who won Gold in 3 Olympics, now retired and recognized by the Brazilians at the match

another satisfied metro rider

Observation: During the France - Slovenia match, THB has an epiphany (yeah, happens 2-3 times an hour, THB is just happy to be around  at age 7-5). THB played volleyball until he was about 35, and had his moment in the sun when he was 1/2 of the 1967 two man VB intramural champs team at UC Berkeley (pop 36K). Actually THB was 1/3 of the team, his partner from the dorm, Bob Probst, was 6'5" and a gifted hitter/blocker.  And THB has been watching O's VB since 1984. Both of  the teams today play better VB than THB has seen in the past. The players are are all about the same size, unbelievable hard serves and great returners, spikes are routinely crushed, blocks routinely made, saves routinely made. The deception and skill of the setters was amazing. There is real joy in seeing VB at this level (true, sometimes THB can't exactly see what just happened on the court). 

The women's game has evolved from more of a defensive game than in the past to offense with hitting, blocking, and strategy, and is also very exciting; somehow it seems recognizable to THB. A few players are now truly powerful. It is still more of a finesse game. Longer rallies. Highly suspenseful 

Given this observation, THB is still glad we sold our tix for tomorrow. we have a few more VB session later in the 2nd week.

ps, The botching of the bong may also come back to haunt France in the matches to come

                Day 8, Paris, Saturday, Aug 3

T&F: KM does 18.5 steps yesterday; THB watched the O's on TV (no step count available)

Very quiet start to the day as KM sleeps in,  does some personal shopping in the morning while THB catches up with blogging and then watching live Olympics on TV.

Lunch at a local pizza spot: share a heavy pizza loaded with prosciutto and cheese and a plate of grilled veggies with a large ball of mozzarella, water, $45 with a to-go bag.

THB and KM sold both VB matches on the Resale site and all that is left is a scintillating night of Athletics (O talk, THB still thinks of it as Track and Field). It is our first trip to the O Stadium and has cemented our hotel status as a great location. Down in the bowels of the shopping center (escalator after escalator) next to the hotel (THB can see it from his room) is the train station. We even have a choice of trains! Two stops and we are at the O Stadium stop (1/2 hr after leaving the hotel, it is even closer than VB). About a 10 minute stroll to the stadium, minimum security, and we have plenty of time to visit the on-site store!

Inside the store THB split  up, THB focusing on hats, KM on tees and THB on hats. Nothing close to anything with Athletics logos. A guy starts talking to THB in American: this is the worst set of souvenir stuff of any O he has attended and he's been to 10 O's! Yeah, but only 6 summer, so THB has him beaten there by 2.

It is a great night of T&F, and our seats are awesome, first row of upper deck and a great sight line to the finishing line. THB and KM are probably 2 of the very few who understand what is happening in the Decathlon and realize the Norwegian has just slipped into first based on a huge disparity in the javelin (9th of 10 events), and the now 3rd place guy in standings could even climb up in the 1500M finale. 

The rest in pics:

off the TV, a pic of the morning session at O Stadium showing a sellout; often the morning sessions of T&F have been less than full

Half the lunch

the other half; with tip and maybe a charge for water, $50

side of "pita" bread comes with the grilled vveggies/mozzarella 

we dine inside, very pleasant and quiet

Given our T&F and VB priorites, Hotel Citadines Les Halles might be the best placed accommodations of any O attended by THB

THB explains to KM that this is just a Duchampian sculpture 

And this is the largest Turrell skyscape yet built

Oooooh, we're in the front row, out seats are just above where this pic was taken

OMG! They are selling iced coffee, THB and KM practically swoon and are pretty sure we in Venue Food Heaven! there's even no line...and as it turns out, no ice

THB arrives wearing a snazzy 2012 tee

and a great hat from a former O

THB's personal shopper finds the next best thing: it kind of looks like a set of track lanes ... or a giant Pee

DB sent THB and KM off with this...this...hey, these headphones are actually rechargeable fans, THB wears them the entire night and they work fabulously...HANDS FREE (do they shrink old many wattles at the same time?)

Around 8ish it starts raining. Great design: no fan gets wet! The rain stops before the last few events. The only events effected are the Shotput and Triple Jump, with slippery runways

all dry here

Now for what we saw: Croucher wins the Shot Put for 3rd straight O Gold; Richardson finishes second even though her main competition isn't in the final, Bol runs an amazing last 100M in for Gold in the mixed 400x4 relay and passes the USA in the last 10M (THB had watched Bol in 2023 World Championship replays, she is terrific); three (or was it 2?) heats of the men's 1500M; the last two events of the Decathlon...enjoying every moment, a great night all around.

THB and KM ride the two stops back to Les Halles station and a very kind guy takes us personally to a spot where we can see how to exit the mall (now closed!), and we are in our rooms by 11pm, and THB gets 7 straight hour of sleep...unheard of!

Observations:

• THB and KM have grown to love the Resale site. It appears from our limited survey that the French have also Many tix were sold world-wide an had to be bought 15 months in advance. As the game neared and early round-robin match-ups were announced, the locals started buying tix. All events so far have been sold out. Only those that bought tix and couldn't attend were left inn the lurch for a while. Now everybody appears happy. Including the Paris O committee as they have eliminated scalping and collect an additional 15% of the original ticket price. 

Book  Review: Lady In The Lake, Laura Lippman (thriller, read  by Susan Bennett, pub'd 2019, and way better than the Natalie Portman streaming version): Lippman is the daughter of a newspaperman and this story is primarily told by a 37 year-old, recently separated woman living in Baltimore in the mid-1960 who starts her career at one of city's daily papers. Also "speaking" are a number of characters the woman interacts with, cleverly treated as internal dialogues and a twist at the end. Recommended