Millenium in Paris
Twenty-five years ago, I called Paris home. We moved to the City of Light on the eve of the Millennium, unsure of being Indian in a European culture, coping with a new language, and mulling over the prospect of Y2K, the Millennium bug, trashing computer networks by end-1999 like a manic Covid variant.
Transitions are to a large extent, what you make of them. I dusted off my high school French and started lessons in its colloquial version with my effervescent tutor Sophie.
“Gardez tes oignons” I repeated dutifully – verbal armor to ward off busybody Parisians who Sophie warned would get in my face. None did! I learned to drive in gracious boulevards designed by Baron Haussmann for genteel traverse – braving the Périphérique and the unparalleled chaos of the Étoile’s traffic whirlpool around the Arc de Triomphe. And, after two months of Portuguese-inflected instruction and exasperated finger-pointing from our gardienne Alice, I eventually discovered my local grocery Carrefour where I least expected to – underground!
Planes by the Pont Neuf
My 1999 memories made me smile as I stood by the Pont Neuf in early July, watching a team of aerobatic planes spin across a hazy sky trailing red, blue, and white Olympic smoke circles in their wake. “Magnifique,” cried Chantal, our walking tour guide, looking skyward. We were exploring Île de la Cité, the historic birthplace of Paris, and the Marché aux Fleurs, its charming flower market built in 1808. Yet just a few minutes earlier Chantal was grumbling about security barriers restricting access along the Seine as the city readied itself for the first post-Covid Olympics.
Like many fellow Parisians, she was leaving town before the Games kicked off on July 26. For local residents like Chantal, daily life was becoming a no-go zone, upended by road blockades, metro closures, and QR codes to return home, while gun-toting gendarmerie and ear-splitting police car sirens prepared to make Paris safer for tourists and athletes descending on the city for the Olympic Games.
French Elections
On the drive from Charles de Gaulle Airport to our hotel, however, our voluble taxi driver Nai – an immigrant who fled Laos as a child – was excited about the ‘spectacle’ he anticipated. As we drove along the A1, he proudly pointed out the Aquatic Center newly built to host artistic swimming, water polo, and diving events. A walkway across the autoroute links it to France’s hallowed national stadium – Stade de France – where the closing ceremonies will play out.
But Nai wasn’t concerned about an incoming flood of international visitors to the Summer Games. Instead, he was deeply worried about the outcome of France’s upcoming high-stakes legislative elections which could make life harder for immigrants like him.
A swim in the Seine
At Île de la Cité, Chantal shepherded us along the barricaded Quai de la Corse pointing out seating erected on the banks of the Seine for the gala opening ceremony. President Macron has promised to take a dip in its murky waters to vouch for its cleanliness she laughed. While he has yet to do so, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera braved the Seine for a swim. The river will host the triathlon and swimming marathon if its water quality meets e-coli thresholds, and if its water levels stay low after dumps of rainfall.
The opening ceremony
Olympic officials say that more than 100 dignitaries and 300,000 spectators will watch the official launch from the riverbank. In a first-of-its-kind riverside event, the Olympic opening ceremony will feature a flotilla of boats ferrying over 10,000 athletes and performers along the Seine. Reportedly, Celine Dion and Lady Gaga will perform at the opening gala on Friday while LeBron James is a confirmed U.S. Olympic flag bearer.
The floating parade will sail through the heart of the city under landmark gateways and bridges, past the Pont Neuf and the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris towards the Eiffel Tower, and end at Trocadero for the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic flame.
As Paris girds up for 16 days of competition, national teams from 206 countries will compete in 329 events in venues across the city and beyond, in familiar spaces like Roland Garros and further afield at the verdant Chateau de Versailles. But as the Olympics expands to include non-traditional sports like skateboarding and surfing, so does the search for appropriate settings in which to host them. In the 2024 Olympics, surfers will compete on giant waves in the faraway Pacific, by the French Polynesian territory of Tahiti!
A piece of the Eiffel Tower
In December 1999, we bundled our toddlers into their prams, wrapped up warm against the winter chill, and strolled down the Rue de Passy towards the Eiffel Tower at midnight. Shouts of Bonne Année floated from streets and windows as revelers rang in the new year. As the countdown to 2000 began, the Eiffel Tower lit up in a spectacular pyrotechnic display of light and fireworks. What an unforgettable way for a newcomer in Paris to welcome the next century!
Twenty-five years later, after the 2024 Olympics are done, its top athletes will receive a unique memento of their Parisian sojourn – a hexagonal, polished chunk of iron from that very same, iconic Eiffel Tower, engraved with the phrase “Paris 2024,” an image of the Olympic torch and five Olympic rings, inlaid into each gold, silver and bronze medal. Even as the Olympics 2024 winners make history, each will get to go home with an unforgettable fragment of a Parisian past.
Image of Olympic mascot:By Joachim Roncin; the intellectual property rights to the mascots is most likely owned by the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – https://www.paris2024.org/en/mascots/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72255043
