My First Olympic Fever: A Parisian Rhapsody of Sport, Design & Human Connection

(An Outsider’s Diary of How the Games Reimagined a City)

🏄🪂This was my first time experiencing the concept of the "Olympics" firsthand through my own eyes and body. Words like "sporting spectacle" or "global party" feel insufficient to describe the scene, so I’ll dive into the details.

01 The City as a Grand Vessel 🗺️

The Olympics have overhauled the entire city. Paris, under its Olympic makeover, feels like a long-haired, cigarette-smoking youth yanked from a weathered lounge chair, scrubbed clean, and revitalized into a state of pink and cyan energy.

The usual impatience on waiters’ faces has mostly vanished. Everyone now greets with friendly smiles: Bienvenue! Welcome! I’m stunned 🤯—this clashes entirely with my old impressions of rats 🐁 scurrying streets and Parisian mauvaise foi. It’s as if the city, a timeless beauty, has finally groomed itself, showcasing its essence while discarding the flaws.

Olympic designs permeate the streets: posters, bus stop signs, logos adorning transformed landmarks, historic buildings and squares reborn as giant screens for live broadcasts, and media studios by the Eiffel Tower using sunsets and the tower itself as backdrops. Beauty feels inhaled, absorbed into the lungs, fused with the body. Every city has its quirks, but Paris excels at planting delightful easter eggs in the details. The Olympics amplify this, turning the city into a host throwing a family-friendly chill party—inviting everyone to lounge, sip drinks, feast on seasonal bites, and marvel at its artistic treasures. Visitors leave enchanted, pockets lighter but hearts fuller.

Aesthetics, design, and culture flood the senses—a dazzling, kaleidoscopic order within chaos.

02 Family Host Little Chill Party 🪁

BHV Marais (see final photos) is a lifestyle department store. Nearby, a tiny newsstand featured in Monocle’s global retail guide sits beside a chill party zone around a 19th-century city hall.

The store is a shrine to French aesthetics. Research calls it "the epitome of Le Marais"—a district famed for vintage shops, quirky boutiques, and artsy stores. The first floor sells clothing, Olympic merch, and official Olympic-collab brands (I splurged on Brigitte Tanaka’s Franco-Japanese embroidery accessories). The second floor is a massive bookstore with cultural goods and文创 (Air France prints, Paris transit-Olympic collabs…). I grabbed a basket 🧺 and went wild. The third floor? Forgotten. The fourth: home decor. Fifth: lingerie and swimwear. My first stop? The restroom (only on the fifth floor).

Each escalator ride tempted me with visual feasts (though bladder urgency forced brief glances). I spent two hours ogling lamps, furniture, and burning cash on Olympic merch…

Exhausted from shopping, I grabbed water and queued for the "Olympics Party Spot"

To the left: a shaded area with a giant screen airing beach volleyball. Front rows sat on the ground; others lounged on bleachers, chatting while half-watching the game. Mist sprays cooled the air. The center and right featured Olympic activity zones: table tennis, mini tracks, Paralympic wheelchair basketball, taekwondo demos, and a climbing wall 🧗♀️. Everyone here was laser-focused, grinning—proof this "host" knows how to entertain: Eat well, play hard, no half-hearted spectating.

03 🏓 Live Match

I’d randomly bought a table tennis ticket months ago, unaware of the matchup. Luck brought me to the men’s team quarterfinals. Live tension differs from broadcast tension. Arriving late, my friend asked, “Is this right? Concerts roar from outside—why so quiet?” Entering, the answer struck: missile-like cameras 🎥 (and cranes and drones) aimed at the glowing center—the table. When players stepped up, the packed arena fell silent 🔇, breath held until the ping-pong echoes began. Olympic pressure is visceral. I’d have frozen in terror 🤯. A recent interview mentioned a top-four athlete vomiting from anxiety mid-match, needing an hour to recover before media duties…

Online critics call some athletes “noisy” for shouting. But under that suffocating focus, in silent tension—muscles taut, nerves firing, thousands staring—why not scream?

Sitting courtside, the net’s proximity laid bare every spin. Long rallies sparked awe: Are these even humans?!

04 Another Chill Club 🪩

The Eiffel Tower dance party 💃 drew everyone: the colossal tower, crowds, twinkling lights, and feverish equality. Volunteer-led stages had the whole plaza pulsating with the tower’s timed light bursts 🪩.

Aaah—this is the Olympics! Parisians turned the Seine’s banks into a street-nightclub hybrid, inviting all to drink and dance. Omo, it’s a global village—no, a planet-wide village! (Tears nearly fell.)

The infectious joy and passion tested human limits of happiness, body, and soul. Paris 2024 reignited faith in those ancient yet ever-renewed dreams 🥇🏆.