The Olympics In Paris

As is her want, Andrea wanted to watch the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. 

Every time there's an Olympics, Winter or Summer, she wants to watch the opening ceremony.

I don't know why and I don't think she knows either. It's just something she does. 

And dang it, I wound up watching with her.   

Instead of taking place in a giant cavernous arena, Paris opted to have it's big Olympic part alfresco. 

That means outdoors.

The venue for the Paris Opening Ceremony would be Paris itself.

The Parade of Athletes would take place on a parade of boats moseying up the river Seine.   

In the rain.

Yep! The heavens opened up and it rained on their parade. 

A lot. 

But the athletes on the boats were smiling and waving and having a good old time.

Despite the rain. 

And the streets along the Seine were filled with spectators also defying the rain and cheering on the athletes as they passed. 

Along the course of the river, there was entertainment.  

Lady Gaga kicked off things  with a performance of Zizi Jeanmaire's  “Mon Truc en Plumes" (“My Thing with Feathers”) in French.  

Wait! Is Lady Gaga French? 

Nope! Good ol' American is our Lady of the Gaga with an Italian heritage.  

So why Lady Gaga? Here's what she said:  “Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music."  

Well, Lady Gaga FEELS French so that should count for something, right?  

Oh, don't forget the feathers!  

“We rented pom poms from Le Lido archive — a real French cabaret theater.  We collaborated with Dior to create custom costumes, using naturally molted feathers.”

We got a film segment of Minions in a submarine in the Seine.

Why Minions?

The creators of the Minions is Illumination Studios, a French animated feature production company.

It’s also a division of Universal Pictures, which is a unit of NBCUniversal which owns NBC who handles exclusive American broadcasting coverage of the Olympics.

So there! 

That's why Minions.

The floating Parade of Athletes continued to inexorably float on until we go to the large boat carrying Team USA featuring 594 athletes from 46 states.

'MERICA!! HELL YEAH!!!

Not that the USA boat was a surprise.  While boats floated about with athletes from countries that were not the United States (Wait! Was that Belize?), NBC kept cutting away to interview people on the USA boat where the rain soaked athletes repeatedly assured us they were having a good time. 

'MERICA!! HELL YEAH!!!

After the parade of athletes ended, French singer-songwriter Juliette Armanet performed a touching rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” while sailing down the Seine on a boat carrying her and a flaming piano played by Sofiane Pamart.

Wait! Did that say "flaming piano"?  

Yep! That piano is on fire.

A person in an armor suit rode in on horseback carrying the Olympic flag as flags from other nations waved in the background. 

The Radio France Choir and French National Orchestra performed the Olympic anthem. The music swelled in epic fashion as the flag was hoisted aloft... upside down. 

Things are coming to a head now as it's time to light 'em up!

The Eiffel Tower becomes the world's biggest glow stick in like ever!  

Throughout the show, we followed the journey of a hooded figure carrying the Olympic torch, leaping and bounding across Parisian rooftops like Batman or something. 

Who is this guy supposed to be? Apparently it was supposed to be a nod to “The Phantom of the Opera" maybe?  

It's time for the long running passing of the torch to reach the culmination of it's journey to light the Olympic cauldron.

Which is attached to a giant hot air balloon.

Oh my God! The cauldron is flying over Paris!!

Will it rain flaming death on the city below? This can't be safe!

Settle down! The giant cauldron of FIRE hovering over Paris seems to be fine.

Back at the Eiffel Tower, it's time for a big ol' piece de resistance with Celine Dion in her first performance since announcing her diagnosis of a rare neurological disorder in 2022. She was positioned on a platform partway up the lighted Eiffel Tower and beneath glowing Olympic rings.

Shimmering in a silver gown like a veritable angel, Celine delivered a stirring rendition of “L’hymne à l’amour,” a song co-written by French singer Édith Piaf.  

Celine's neurological condition makes singing difficult, even painful.  But on this night, she was in fine voice and delivered a spectacular finis to the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics. 

The Paris Olympic Committee made some rather odd choices for this opening by having these festivities spread out over so much of Paris. But hey, Paris is a beautiful city so who can blamed them for wanting to show off a bit.  

Even through a downpour of rain. 

It was weird and strange but no one can deny this Opening Ceremony was memorable.