Through observations, winks and anecdotes, the Carnets de Paris immerse you in the heart of the Olympic Games.
First observation: when we have just arrived “in” Paris, we notice that the city is not as lively as usual.
A taxi driver tells us that there is no one. The Parisians have left, shopkeepers have closed up shop and even tourists are waiting for the Olympics to start to come or are choosing another destination altogether. “We sometimes wait five hours at the airport before getting a customer,” he tells us.
A few days before the opening ceremony, security perimeters have been set up all over the city to protect the Games facilities from a “potential terrorist risk”. Mainly along the Seine, on which the delegations of athletes will parade aboard boats on a six-kilometer route.
Getting around the City of Lights should be easier the day after this grand spectacle, which is expected to attract around 320,000 people, 220,000 of whom have been invited. But until then, Paris is looking like a pandemic, with cars and pedestrians having deserted some streets. These are accessible only to those with a “Games Pass,” a QR code that specifies the reason for your travel in a secure area.
The city is divided into several coloured zones (grey, black, red, blue) and the rule is simple: the further away you are from the action of the Olympic Games, the fewer the restrictions.
From July 18 to 26, only local residents, professionals and visitors (with hotel, museum, restaurant reservations, etc.) are authorized to access the security perimeter, the gray zone, which surrounds the opening ceremony facilities, we can read on the website of the Paris police headquarters.
From 1 p.m. on Friday, spectators with a ticket will also be able to pass through the security barriers.
Some tourist sites are also fenced off and sometimes you have to make big detours to get to them. Finding a way to cross the Seine to reach the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday took us more than 30 minutes, even with our media access, which allows you to move around inside the security perimeters.
We knew that security would be a priority issue for the organizing committee. The fact remains that the bans on passage, mainly by car, seem to be causing chaos, and that some Parisians and shopkeepers can no longer live in their city as usual.