Paris Olympics Day 3- Musée Marmottan Monet and Women's USA Quarterfinal Futbol

We spent the day in an area of Paris we had never been to before! We had tickets to an afternoon women's quarterfinal futbol match at Parc des Prince so went early to see the surrounding area. High on my list was the Museé Marmottan Monet. I'd seen a great Monet exhibit with my aunt Margaret last fall in Madrid and learned that many of the pieces were on loan from this museum, the largest collection of Monet's in the world. They had a special exhibit for the Olympics on sports in art. 

I loved the work by Berthe Morisot, the first female impressionist artist. 

The museum was on the edge of the huge Bois de Boulogne and I wish we'd had more time to explore it. We walked around a lake to a cafe for lunch. And from there, called an Uber to take us to the arena for the futbol match. 

When we bought all of our Olympic tickets in February 2023, of course, we had no idea which teams we would get to see compete. This was especially true for our women's quarterfinal futbol tickets. When the groups were drawn, I learned that the US Women's team was in a group where the winner would go on to the match we had tickets for. I held my breath and got more and more excited as the US dominated their group. It was a dream come to true to watch team USA play (and win!) in Paris! 

We were one of a handful of groups cheering for USA in our section of the stadium. Most people were cheering for Japan. We were rather obnoxious with our cheering and smug when we won!

This game called for Pete's USA toughie tee! 

ISA friends who were also in the city for the games got last-minute tickets after USA was announced and we got to see them briefly after the game. 

We wandered for a while after the game, trying to gain access to the nearby gardens of the tennis venue, but they were closed. As we detoured to a metro, we saw fans spilling out of all of the area bars. The mixed martial arts final was on and France was dominating (and went on to win). The atmosphere was so fun and I wanted to stay in Paris for all of the games! 

Pete led us to a beer bar he wanted to check out and we got to control the TV to continue watching events while having dinner. 

We were all giddy from the excitement! 

Paris Olympics Day 2- Beach Volleyball, Eiffel Tower, and Trampoline Gymnastics

Two big events with a climb up the Eiffel tower in between! 

We had morning tickets to beach volleyball, an event I chose as much for the location as the exciting sport. We did it have it in us to arrive for the 9am start time, but got there around 10am in time to see 3 out of 4 of the matches. 

As these venues were created new for the Olympics, there were no seating charts to consult when we learned a few months prior where our seats would be. There was a lot of speculation on Reddit about which seats would have the iconic Eiffel Tower views and which would have their backs to it. Again, we were in the cheap seats, but I think we had the best seats. We were at the end of the stands and got really nice breezes to keep cool in the heat and had unobstructed views of the tower. Hard to take my eyes off it, but the games were great, too. One of the French women's teams played and it was fun to see the excitement from the predominantly French crowd. 

Austria was victorious in one of their matches

This venue had better food with lemon merengue pie! 

As we were watching the games, Jude said how much he wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower. I imagined that tickets would be long gone with so many tourists in the city. Wrong. We were able to book tickets for a few hours later (but climbing, no elevator). So from the event, we booked a nearby brasserie for lunch so that we could return at the designated time to climb. 

I have to say that I was a bit confused by the mascot. And more confused by people wearing hats of it!

Hamming it up in the streets! 

Jude declared that these escargots were not as good as the ones we had in London at Balthazar. Oh to have this kid's childhood. 

As we were having lunch, I saw a familiar face walk by! An ISA dad! I ran out into the street and stopped him. Lea grew up around the corner from the restaurant. 

The area around the Eiffel Tower was completely blocked off and you could only enter with tickets. We got our workout walking to the second floor! It was so cool up there. There was a pop-up bar and a screen showing games with lounge chairs. And the Olympic Rings up close and personal. 

Our morning venue! 

We'd last gone up the Eiffel Tower (via elevator) when Jude was 2 and I was 36 weeks pregnant with Maeve. We attempted to recreate the photos! 

From the Eiffel tower, we headed straight via metro to Bercy Arena for our next event, Men's trampoline gymnastics. It was the qualifying event and finals all wrapped into one. We had never seen trampoline gymnastics before so it was all new to us! There was an American competing, but he didn't make it past the qualification round. It was rather thrilling to watch as the men didn't always land where they should! There were spotters with large pads surrounding the apparatus and many times they had to throw the pads under the gymnasts as they were going to land on the sides or completely off the trampoline! After the qualifying round, there was a break and then the finals began. A gymnast competing under the "Individual Neutral Athletes" was dominant and so graceful. Two Chinese gymnasts got silver and bronze with impressive precision. 

Essentially, the gymnasts had to complete 10 consecutive sequences. It was free form so they could do any combination of twists and turns that they wanted, but it had to be different from the other jumps they did. The hard part seemed to be landing back centered on the trampoline (hence the falling off!). 

A French gymnast was competing who was obviously the fan favorite. The spectators surrounding us all had signs cheering him on. And though he didn't do great, he got a standing ovation, which was heartwarming to see. 

We stayed to watch the medal ceremony, but then beelined out to avoid the crowds. A really full, fun day! 

Paris Olympics Day 1- Place de la Concorde

Woohoo! The day had arrived. Our first Olympics event in Paris! And Maeve's first time in Paris! We had tickets to enter the Urban Park at Place de la Concorde- home to the urban sports venues. We were free to enter at anytime so we first did a few touristy things as we didn't imagine we'd want to spend the whole day at the venue.

We spotted the Team USA house and were intrigued. Could we just walk up and enter the doors? Apparently, not, unless you were willing to pay ±$500 a ticket! 

However, it was free to enter the magnificent public library with this stunning oval reading room. After a half dozen trips to Paris, there is still SO much more to discover. 

 

They had a ton of interactive activities including this VR experience so it was hard to get the kids to leave! We spotted a Team USA person eating delicious-looking dumplings nearby and was pointed to the shop with the line out the door. The boys grabbed some yummy things to accompany our picnic in the Jardin du Palais Royal. 

On our walk to the venue, we passed the Louve and the Caludron of the Olympic Torch. 

Place de la Concorde housed the BMX racing, Skateboarding, and 3x3 Basketball venues. There were demonstrations of the events throughout the day, though it was really hot sitting up in the stands with no shade. We took breaks in the very popular misters around this beautiful fountain. 

A double dutch group did some demonstrations and then set up to allow guests to participate. The kids were so into it! Pete and I gave it a try as well. They even got Maeve to practice doing a cartwheel into the jump ropes and stopped the crowd to have everyone watch her! Her 15 seconds of fame. 

3x3 basketball started up towards the end of the afternoon so the atmosphere got more festive. We waited in line to take a turn holding the Olympic Torch. Will cherish these photos! 

After a great introduction to the games, we walked from the venue to a pizza place before heading home. Our next day was a big one! 

Le Madeleine Church