I’m rewinding the clock about 2 years as I’ve finally gotten some time to write about the Olympics. Our summer 2024 epic trip started first with time in Nice to see the progress of our apartment renovation as well as see the finale of the Tour de France 2024. We also had been planning since early 2023 to see the Olympics, as it had been a dream of ours to attend at least once. Tickets were secured at 1am AZ time about 18 months prior (me setting an alarm to get up at my appointed ticket lottery time, ooof). At the time I didn’t know what tickets would be available and what any of it would cost for a family of 5, as my mom was coming as well. I had to make decisions without the input of my sleeping family so I did the best I could. We were capped at a sum of 30 tickets, so that meant 6 events in total. Lot of questions lingered like which teams we would be seeing, but medal rounds were clearly posted and cost more, as well as the type of seats which were tiered into levels. I was able to get tickets for soccer (2 games) beach volleyball, tennis, kayak and dressage.
Front Row at the Women’s US soccer
We arrived in Nice to in time to see the last two stages of theTour de France (see prior post), peek in on our renovation, make some decisions about furniture and decor, and commence our viewing of the Olympic Games. We took the Nice tram up to the Allianz Stadium twice to view New Zealand’s men’s team win and next Team USA Women’s team who were the eventual Gold Medal winners. How cool to experience the Olympics in our “home away from home.” We then wrapped up our Nice stay and headed to Paris on the TGV to watch the remainder of our Olympic events.
We trained to Paris the day of the opening ceremonies (5.5hr trip), as soccer did get a head start on the rest of the events. Our hope was to watch the opening ceremonies from a vantage point along the Seine. First we had to make our way to the rental apartment which was on the road between L’Arc du Triomphe and the Trocadéro. We had to have special clearance to access our area, which we did, but it was a bit of a challenge to arrive! I was glad I had gotten our ducks all in a row. Once we got settled into the apartment the rain started coming down. We headed towards the river Seine anyway to see if we could find a vantage point to view the opening ceremonies which were happening by boat, but without tickets for seats they wouldn’t allow anyone to even stand near the banks. That had been our big plan and it felt a bit disappointing (and it was certainly not explained ahead of time by Paris officials). We went in search of some dinner and a few restaurants in our area had not been able to receive their food deliveries that day due to being in the restricted access area of Paris. Finally we were able to secure a seat at Café Belloy, where they assured us they had food to serve. From our table we could see the motorcade of all the heads of state and celebrities come through on their way to their seating at Trocadéro! Actually a very cool sight to see. We watched the rest of the ceremonies on TV at the apartment after dinner, crazy to think they were actually happening less than a mile from where we watched. It was comfy and dry at the apartment and that was probably a better way to enjoy for our family.
The next day it continued to rain and we bought rain jackets at the local market and walked to the Eiffel Tower beach volleyball courts to watch the matches. It was a challenge to navigate Paris, a city we are quite familiar with in normal times, due to various bridge closures and barricades. We almost missed the start of Volleyball due to having to take the long way around, and the winding security lines we encountered once there. We eventually got in, and then had to contend with large umbrellas being used in front of us, partially obstructing our view. But it was such a cool experience with the Eiffel Tower in the background from our great seats.
Our next event was Tennis at Roland Garros. We had tickets for the second round, and kept waiting to see what match-ups we might get. I think I might have died and gone to heaven when we discovered the main match we would get to see at center court was Djokovic vs Nadal!!! We also got to see Iga Swiatek vs Diane Parry for the women’s match. What an amazing time it was for us to watch these epic matches on the clay! Djokovic dominated the match and did eventually go on to win the Gold Medal of these games, and Iga also handily defeated Parry and went on to win the Bronze medal. While the heat made it fairly uncomfortable for all, I hope it was a core memory for my family because it was certainly one for me.
Our fifth event was Men’s Kayak and this was unexpectedly fun for all! We traveled by train out to the town of Vaires-sur-Marne. This whole little town turned into a bit of a festival with food trucks encircling the town square. We bought lunch and picnicked on the sidewalks (very French) after which we made our way to the Stadium to watch the Canoe Slalom event. There was a blessed bit of clouds passing overhead and we seemed to feel the cool mist from the man-made rapids in the air. This was a medal round and while we didn’t know a single kayaker, we enjoyed the event throughly.
The kayak stadium
Our final event before departure was Grand Prix Dressage (team event). This was on the grounds of the fabled Palace of Versailles. As equestrians, my daughter and I most looked forward to this. My mother is also an avid horse fan and enjoyed it immensely. Brian and Carter made the best of it…as it took about 6 hrs for this event included the medal ceremony. What a spectacle to see, I’m only sad that somehow even though Snoop Dog was there we didn’t catch a glimpse of him!
The next morning we sadly flew back home to the US to get the kids back for the first day of school(8/5). What a wonderful experience on which to have brought our family. There were moments of complaining for sure, and with the heat and lack of A/C in certain locations it was understandable. I hope everyone remembers it as fondly as I do.
Women’s US Rugby team at the Victor’s Village