This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
A century after its last Olympic Games, Paris will become the center of the world once again. This summer’s Olympic and Paralympic competitions are transforming a city that has never really stopped reinventing itself. Alongside this event marked by choices focused on sustainable development, we take the time to experience Paris as we love it: through art, history, luxury and gastronomy.
The Paris 2024 team has chosen to build infrastructure that will meet the needs of Parisians before those of athletes. At the drawing board, we prioritized meaningful use of the facilities and sustainability after the Games.
The Aquatic Center, the only new sports building built permanently as part of the 2024 Games, is being erected in Seine-Saint-Denis. After the Olympics, it will be transformed to add several games areas, offices for sports federations and a park. The adjacent training pools will be dismantled and then moved to the outskirts of Paris so that the population can benefit from them.
Furthermore, we took advantage of the Olympics to install a pedestrian bridge which will serve to streamline travel between the Stade de France and the new aquatic complex. In the long term, this link will allow the reunification of one of the sectors that will be most affected by the event. It is also in Seine-Saint-Denis that the Olympic village is built. This will then be transformed into rental housing to meet the pressing needs of the local population. However, the interest of real estate speculators and the gentrification that the holding of the Olympics and the resulting developments may cause are still worrying.
The French want the 2024 Olympics to be those of parity and diversity, but also of novelty. In this regard, six disciplines (some of which were also presented in Tokyo) make a notable appearance in the program. The Olympic Sports and Urban Cultures exhibition in Paris Je t’aime and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne at the Spot24 space brilliantly illustrates the origins of breakdancing, skateboarding, BMX, surfing, sport climbing and three-on-three basketball.
Art and history
Visiting the capital as part of the Olympics is also a great opportunity to play tourist between two medal ceremonies. Several new features have been added to the long list of Parisian attractions. A stone’s throw from the Bercy Bridge, on the Seine, the Quai de la Photo opened its doors in July 2023. It is an art gallery and a floating cultural center, to which entry is free, with mission to democratize photography. As we pass by, these are the photos of Kate Barry, the daughter of Jane Birkin and half-sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, which are hung on the wall of the transformed barge. The talented artist, who died in unclear circumstances in 2013, is one of those who succeeded in depicting loneliness, pain and discomfort with a disarming aesthetic.
With already one foot in the Gainsbourg family, the logical next step is to set foot on the floor of the house of the Man with the Head of Cabbage which he lived in until his death in 1991. Today, we can travel while being guided by the voice of his daughter Charlotte, who shamelessly shares memories with her father in this dark, busy, almost suffocating place. Having been sold out for several months, tickets for the summer and next fall tours will be put online soon.
Luxury and gastronomy
Among the most luxurious hotels in Paris, the Plaza Athénée stands out for its open and inclusive character. If few people have the means to book a standard room there for more than 2,500 euros ($3,685 CA) per night, nothing prevents tourists from tasting fashionable Paris by inviting themselves there for breakfast, offered at 70 euros ($103).
If you have acquired a taste for the luxury and opulence of the Plaza Athénée, then head for a visit to La Samaritaine. It is the smallest of the large French shopping centers which has been given a makeover following a massive renovation. Built more than 150 years ago near the Pont Neuf, the place today brings together the most luxurious brands on the planet. As part of Paris 2024, outfits from athletes who participated in the Olympic and Paralympic Games that an anonymous collector has been accumulating for more than a quarter of a century will be exhibited.
The Seine will be the scene of the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Gamese Olympiad. Even if the logistics are not completely finalized, we can already believe that the Parisian river promises us all the colors. To sail in the furrow left by the passage of the athletes during the opening ceremony, the gastronomic experience of a cruise on Ducasse sur Seine is second to none. The menu, signed by Jean-Philippe Berens and the most starred chef in the world, Alain Ducasse, is enjoyed on an electric-powered riverboat which casts off in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Whether you visit for the Olympics or simply because you love this city more than anything, Paris will always have something new to offer. Champion of art, history, luxury and gastronomy, this gold medalist has never stopped making us dream.
The journalist was invited by Paris je t’aime and Atout France.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.