Some late day observations

As my time in Paris draws to a close, just a few observations.

This Olympics has definitely been an eye-opening experience for me. I was aware that the Summer Olympics involved more sports, more athletes and more media members, but my only experience with the Summer Games was in Tokyo, where there were no fans in the stands and fewer media than normal. Coming in to Paris, I was expecting a lot of people and I certainly was not disappointed. There are a lot of people. Media, fans, staff and volunteers pack every single arena full for every single game. After each game, I find myself battling throngs of people to get on the train and head back to the hotel. 

On a related note, the French people seem pretty stoked about the Olympics. As mentioned, every single venue is full for every single match (at least that I've seen) and they are enthusiastic and excited for everything. I know that not all of the fans are from France, but the reactions that the French athletes get every time they are announced tells me that most of them are French. 

McDonald's was a worldwide Olympic sponsor for many years, including at my first two Olympics in Sochi and PyeongChang. There were restaurants in the Media Center and around the games in locations. However, the restaurant stopped its sponsorship of the Olympics prior to my next experience in Tokyo. But I am not sure I have ever seen more McDonald's advertisement anywhere than I have in Paris. There are signs in every train, on the side of seemingly every bus and at subway and bus stations.

I watched the bouldering and lead sport climbing finals today at Le Bourget. I first saw this competition in Tokyo and like most of the Olympic sports, I came away impressed with the athletes. My brother teaches climbing as part of his job and I've always marveled at some of the things he does. The athletes here have a nice mat to fall on if they come off the bouldering wall, but most folks out in the real world don't have that option.

I took a little time on Friday morning to walk around Paris a little bit. I took the metro to the stop near the Notre Dame Cathedral and walked to the iconic structure, which is still under reconstruction after a fire a few years back. While the structure is essentially blocked off to allow the construction people to do their work, there's still a nice view of it from in front and the story of the cathedral and the reconstruction appears on the walls all around the cathedral. I also saw the Bastille monument and Victor Hugo's house before heading back to the work portion of my life. And I also grabbed a crepe at a small restaurant along the way.

I have a ticket to the closing ceremony, but it is a seat without a table, so there probably won't be much updating of anything, but I am excited to see my third closing ceremony.


Construction cranes and scaffolding surround the Notre Dame Cathedral as reconstruction work continues following the fire a few years ago.

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