Our bucket List Tour: First Stop Paris
Before we began to plan our trip, we knew that this would be our family’s last big travel opportunity. For all the places we dreamed of travelling to, and sharing together, it became clear that it was either now or never. Top of our list were Antartica, Tahiti, and an African safari but when we realized the Summer Olympics were taking place in Paris during our year off, we knew that this was the place our travels would begin.
I am not sure what the Olympics means to a more modern generation but when I was a kid, every four years I would be glued to the tv dreaming of the fame and glory that awaited me when I won my gold medal. While my Olympic dreams are far behind me now, this could be a chance to ignite my own children’s Olympic passions.
We booked our Air BnB almost two years in advance praying the owner wouldn’t cancel our reservation at the prospect of a bigger payday. We registered for the ticket lotteries and payed exorbitant amounts of money for hospitality tickets when the regular tickets we wanted were sold out. Yes it would be expensive, but who can put a price on inspiring your children to reach for the stars.
We arrived in Paris on Friday August 2nd, one week into competition. We checked into our apartment and headed straigh, to Le Train Bleu to celebrate Sophie’s 16th birthday. The next day was a rest day and on Sunday our Olympic experience began.
To start, we travelled to the town of Lilles for our first event: the Canadian women’s basketball team playing their final round robin game. We had great seats and had a fantastic time but ultimately Canada lost to Nigeria and failed to qualify for the quarter finals. The next day was Monday and we headed to Versailles to watch the individual horse jumping qualifiers. Mia is all in on equestrian and I think she hopes to represent Canada on the international stage one day. It was 34 degrees and humid and a 2 km walk from the bus stop to the arena so we left after cheering on all three of the Canadian competitors, and that was after sitting two and one half hours under the blazing sun. On Tuesday we watched team Canada perform their freestyle routine in Artistic Swimming. It was a boxing theme and was terrific to watch in person but it was not enough to push them into medal contention. Thursday was Nat’s day to herself while the rest of the Bulls went to Stadium De France to watch Track and Field. We saw the Canadian men’s relay team compete in the 4x100. That team would later shock the world and win the gold medal and make Andre De Grasse the most decorated Canadian olympic athlete along with Penny Oleksiak. Our final event was on Friday and was the woman’s Breaking finals. No we did not see Ray-gun the Australian making headlines for all the wrong reasons, but had a blast dancing in the stands and watching each of the head to head battles. We also got to stay after the competition to watch the athletes received their medals.
It was such a memorable week and so much fun cheering on the Team Canada athletes. Paris put on a master class in organization and provided the ultimate backdrop to our Olympic experience. We don’t have an interest in going to LA for the 2028 summer games but learning that the 2030 winter games will take place in Nice France and the nearby Alps, the planning has already begun.
