Lavish lunch and Opening Ceremonies

There are many road closures in Paris right now as you can imagine. And many of the bridges across the Seine were closed in anticipation of the opening ceremonies this evening. We had made a reservation months ago at a Michelin star restaurant, Automne, for lunch. We had planned to walk. The Olympic transportation app estimated our walk there to be about one hour, but we were wise and allowed an hour and a half. Thank goodness we did! It took us 85 minutes. There were so many detours that we got our steps in before we had our lavish lunch. Délicieux!

We decided we would definitely take the Metro back to our hotel given all the bridges were closed as of 1 p.m. so the only way back to the left bank and our hotel would be going under the Seine. Easy peasy. We got changed into our Canada T-shirts and packed umbrellas and waterproof jackets because the forecast was to have some rain.

We arrived at our gate and realized that our tickets were on the Pont de Change! Epic. We were there a couple of hours early, as recommended, and hung out in the open area of the bridge behind the stands of seats. Our Canada T-shirts were media magnets. We wound up being interviewed by a Middle Eastern sports channel, TIME Magazine, and a Polish sports channel. 🤣

It was around 6:30 when it started to sprinkle; by the time the ceremonies started it was raining steadily. I don’t know how we would’ve managed without jackets and umbrellas because it really did come down for almost the whole ceremony. But worth every raindrop.

Our seats were exceptional. There were large screens everywhere for us to watch the other activities that were going on at other areas of the Seine as well as at the Eiffel Tower. We thought it was an ambitious, exceptionally well thought out and exciting opening ceremony. We were in awe.Read more