On an unprepossessing street corner in the 10th arrondissement in Paris, the 2024 Olympics came to an end via a giant TV screen for around 30 people inside Le Mondial brasserie and 20 others listening and occasionally looking in from the chairs outside. Some 10 kilometres to the north in Saint Denis, 75,000 spectators were packed into the Stade de France for the in person experience of a closing ceremony,
Marie, ensconced on a stool a few metres from Le Mondial's counter and awaiting a drink, readily conceded she had been an Olympics doomsayer. “Well, I am a Parisienne,” she added with un petit soupcon of self-mockery to justify the default cycnicsm.
“Nothing was ready. There was political turmoil and I was sceptical that it would be a success.”
Céline Dion's first apperance after a four-year battle with a voice-threatening illness to belt out Edith Piaf's song "L'hymne à l'amour" from the Eiffel Tower had turned her back from the dark side of the discourse.
“I was in tears,” Marie admitted. “And I don’t even like Céline Dion. It was the same for all my friends.”
Converted since that explosion of emotions at the opening ceremony, the 44-year-old was in café with her former London flatmate Dejan, who was visiting Paris from the Slovenian capital Ljubliana.
The duo had acquired last minute tickets at 170 euros apiece to go to the boxing at Roland Garros and the athletics at the Stade de France.
“It was worth it," said Dejan. “I tried to get tickets before but could not manage it.
Chance
"I normaly wouldn’t go to watch athletics but it was the Olympics and that makes it worthwhile. We had good weather and it was brilliant.”
On the other side of the road, Le Chateau d’Eau was doing a brisk trade with non Olympics junkies. The Sunday evening vibe distinctly chilled.
Jose Abadia and his friend, Guillaume, were among the early arrivals at Le Mondial to establish a prime position slap bang in front of the screen.
“I’m a fan of the Olympic Games,” said Jose who had been to the football, taekwondo and volleyball.
"I would have liked to have gone to the BMX riding. The volleyball was great. It's a sport that I like."
Guillaume, a nurse, added: "I've watched the Games whenever I could. I work on night shifts and I haven't been able to go to any events because of that.
Like Marie a few metres away, he had been impressed by the opening ceremony.
"I was very proud to be French which is something that hadn't happened to me like that. It was a very inclusive ceremony and it was really good.
Familiarity
"The Games have been in a city we know and it was heartwarming to see it in all of the places we know. It's certainly not the end of the problems but it was nice."
President Emmanuel Macron and the politicians will return to the Sturm and Drang of political life with French athletes basking in the glow of their haul of 16 gold medals among the 64 acquired since the Games started along the river Seine in torrential downpours on 26 July.
Just over a fortnight later of a balmy August evening, songs from Phoenix, Kavinski and Air helped the Paris extravaganza move into legend as thousands of athletes milled around the centre of the field filming and taking selfies while the 2024 supremos went through the formalities of passing on the show to Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles who was accompanied by the American gymnast Simon Biles.
"A wave rose and it has taken over the country and the entire world," said Tony Estanguet, the boss of the Paris Olympics organising committee.
"We ave seen images that will stay with us in the history of Olympism."
Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committe, which oversees the Games, quipped: "These were sensational days from the beginning ... dare I say it "Seine" sational."
Such rapier wit from the German gold-medal winning fencer.
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Compatriot Valerie Haenol watched Bach's slick stream intently. The 71-year-old physiotherapist had arrived on the Eurostar train in Paris from Cologne on Friday afternoon without tickets to see any of the events.
"I couldn't get time off work before and I just wanted to be in Paris," she beamed. "I've just been trying to get a bit of the atmosphere."
A trip on Saturday morning to watch the marathon runners pass led into a spot of sightseeing and mingling among the amateur athletes who had taken part in Saturday night's Marathon for All along the Olympic marathon course.
"I was last here in Paris with my son in 2006," she added. "I came because it was Paris."
Olympics over, she said a few more days of visiting the tourist hotspots ensued before returning home to Bruhl on Thursday.
"I was talking to a man who lives in Saint Denis, she added. "He talked about the traffic and not being able to get around.
"I know it has been difficult for people who live here but for us as foreigners it is great."
