Olympic atmosphere

It’s been so hot today… around 37 degrees this afternoon… and I’m so glad we weren’t attending an Olympic event today. Some of the stands are wide open to the elements and people inside must have been baking. 🥵

Even at 11.30 at night, at 28 degrees, it was too hot for me to want to go to bed so I’m sitting outside on my own watching a storm come in. There’s been sheet lightning in the distance for an hour or so now and, more recently, the wind has risen out of nowhere. it’s swirling around me and finally I feel cool.

Now the rain is absolutely hammering down and John’s emerged from his bed, worrying about the wind damaging the awning. I just want to dance in the rain. I am absolutely loving the power of the storm, washing the heat away so I can breathe again. Everywhere is cool, fresh and lovely!

Back to this morning… at 9.30, we walked into the local town, Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, to catch the train into Paris. It was hot already and, in the bright sunshine, we couldn’t see the ticket machine to buy tickets. Therefore, as there was no ticket office, we just jumped on the train without any. Thankfully, we didn’t get caught and at the next station, Creil, we bought return tickets to Paris. John and I braved the ticket machine, with a few minutes panic because one of our cards wouldn’t work. Luckily, the next card did and we took our tickets and waited for the others who’d gone to the ticket desk. They joined us with seconds to spare before the train to Gare du Nord arrived.

We settled down on the top deck of the two storey air conditioned train, and used the Paris 2024 app to buy metro tickets for the city centre. Pleased with ourselves, on arrival in Paris, we got off the train and headed for the barriers to the metro. John scanned me through and Tracy scanned Mark through. Unfortunately, the others ended stuck because the app would only work once at a time, despite the guard on the Creil train making a mistake and telling us we could have tickets for several people on the one phone. 😧

John kept trying and somehow managed to get through, without using a ticket credit on his app. 🤷‍♀️ However, the others had to head off to the ticket desk to buy individual paper tickets for Tracy, Dan and Izzy. In the meantime, I loaded the app onto my phone and bought my own metro tickets. We now have more than we need but at least it’ll avoid any future dramas!

Finally, we reached Chatelet Les Halles metro station in the city centre where we parted company with the others. They went off to see the Champs Elysées and climb the Eiffel Tower, while we wandered along the Seine and through The Louvre to see the Olympic Flame and soak up the atmosphere.

We crossed the River Seine and wandered into some back streets of Rive Gauche to find a quiet cafe for lunch, away from the tourist hotspots. It was lovely cooling down in the shade and relaxing for a bit before we returned to the hot streets, bustling with visitors.

That said, the city wasn’t as busy as we’d expected and everyone was good humoured, taking their time in the heat and enjoying the experience. It was really hot in the afternoon and we kept to the shade as much as possible, drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated.

We walked as far as Pont Alexandre III, with its freshly painted gold statues sparkling in the sunshine, and a stream of flags across the bridge.

The start and finish of the triathlon is here and everything was set up ready, although, at this time, it’s unclear whether the event will go ahead.

Update: water tests at 3 o’clock in the morning gave the go ahead for it to happen today, and the women’s race has just finished as I add photos to this page, with one of our athletes winning a bronze medal.

Update 2: and a gold in the men’s race 👏

The highlight of my day was finding a fountain to paddle in after a particularly hot and sunny section on our walk. I’m a typical English rose that wilts in the heat so anything that reduces my body temperature is exciting! 🫠😆

We spent some time cooling down in the water and relaxing in the shade of a little garden by the Petit Palais. As we sat, we could hear loud cheers from an Olympic event nearby. There was a calm buzz about the city, with everyone enjoying themselves despite being hot and bothered.

We headed back towards Place de La Concorde, planning to get the metro back to Gare du Nord from there. Unfortunately, the police blocked our way and set us a longer way round. We ended up walking back along the Seine and decided to head back to Chatelet Les Halles where we’d exited the metro earlier. This meant we didn’t have to change metro line, but did mean a longer sweatier walk. This was the perfect excuse for large beers, in the heaviest beer glasses ever. It’s a good job I’m used to lifting weights!

The train journey back was uneventful but, back at Creil, we had a 50 minute wait to get the local line back to Saint-Leu. Instead, I downloaded an app and ordered a taxi, which arrived in a minute. Perfect! It was lovely to sit in an air conditioned taxi back to the campsite, rather than endure another train and a 20 minute walk in the heat.

We waited for the others to return then had a barbecue for dinner, all a little weary after walking more than 20,000 steps in a heatwave. Once bedtime arrived, as I’ve already written, it was too hot for me to sleep so I sat outside to read for a bit. Watching the storm develop was wonderful! ⛈️