Paris is not Paris that you visited or the one you plan to visit. It is a completely different city. During those days, the realization of the Olympic Games has prevented the normal development of activities. The City of Light is under siege and its inhabitants and visitors have shown their displeasure.
According to the criteria of
It’s a case, really, because we have an official credential with which we can move around, but the average person can’t, they feel frustrated because they paid a million to come to the ‘City of Light’ and they haven’t enjoyed it.
Is a reality
The Eiffel Towerthe main attraction in Paris, can only be visited by people who have access to the organisation of the games, otherwise they lost the year.
The criticism that has been heard is strong. There, in Trocaderothere have been great competitions and the attendance has been good, but with credentials or tickets purchased to watch beach volleyball, but no more.
He Mars field It is ‘resting’ from the influx of people, who always fill this emblematic part of the city in the summer.
Residents of the area have protested. They can only enter ‘thanks’ to a code required by the authorities protecting that part of Paris. Otherwise, there is no option to see the Tower up close or take a photo at its feet.
High and long stretches of fences shattered the objectives of the visitors, who believed that the competitions would be held far outside the city, but that was not possible.
The stadium built in the middle of Torre has left tourists in stitches, as they obviously want to see this 300-metre structure up close, which was designed by civil engineers. Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier and built by the French Gustave Eiffel and his 250 collaborators, a monument that was delivered for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris.
“We did not come to Paris for the Games, we are not interested in them, I am not against them, but it is true that we cannot take photos in important places like the Eiffel Tower,” he told TIME Juan Carlos Martinez, a Spaniard who came to the capital of France with his wife, Claudia, and their two children.
The Concord
But it is not the only part where the protest has become evident. Place de la Concorde, on the Champs Elysees, It is very different. Large structures prevail, high stands in which the public.
It is located at the beginning of the Champs Elysees avenue, in the VIII district of Paris and is the second largest in the country after the Place de la Concorde. Quincones in Bordeaux.
There, giant stages were built for the competitions of the BMX freestyle cycling, 3×3 basketball and skateboarding, which is why the famous roundabout has been ‘wiped off the map’ for the Games.
Place de la Concorde
Photo:
“It is not possible that we have bought a plan for the excursion and we cannot enter La Concordia. We did not know that it would be closed and we see it from the outside and it is something else,” he said. Fabrizio Martin, an Italian who reproaches himself for having come to France at this time.
The fountains that adorn the roundabout and the obelisk are surrounded by high stands and guardrails. In addition, the sound is very loud, very different from the calm that is normally experienced in that part of the city.
Of the emblematic sites that have not been touched for the Games are the Louvre Museum and the Arc de Triomphe, Otherwise, tourists should know that if they want a photo at the Eiffel Tower or the Place de la Concorde they should come another day, because Paris is under siege for the Olympic Games.
Lisandro Rengifo
Special correspondent for EL TIEMPO
@lisandroabel
#Paris #siege #Olympics #tourists #protest #restrictions #iconic #sites