The Olympic cauldron attached to a hot-air balloon in the Tuileries park has become one of the most-wanted tickets at the 2024 Games. It is one of the most-visited sights in Paris and one of the highlights of Friday’s Opening Ceremony. 10,000 free visits to see the eco-friendly, flame-free ring of fire have been booked up until the end of the Games, but organizers say they will add more times. The city of Paris is thinking about making the pot a permanent part of the city.
One of the most-wanted 2024 Olympics attractions is the Olympic torch attached to a balloon in a famous Parisian park. Every day, thousands of people come to see the seven-meter-wide (23-foot-wide) ring of eco-friendly fire.
Every day at sunset, the pot takes off from the Jardin des Tuileries park under a 30-meter balloon.
People have talked a lot about the flame made of clouds of mist lit by LED rays since French athletes Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec lit it at the opening ceremony on Friday.
Now, all 10,000 daily spots to see the flame are taken, and the park is packed with people. The Games end on August 11.
The people in charge have said they will add more spots. “We’re victims of our own success,” they wrote on the web.
‘Join the party’
Yesterday, Virginie Decosta took her 11-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son to the grounds.
The 43-year-old told AFP, “It’s for the kids so they can join the party too.”
Decosta and her husband want to go watch basketball and BMX, but their kids have to stay home.
She said, “They won’t be able to go to the Games because the tickets are “too expensive.”
“But at their level they understand the importance of what’s going on,” she told us.
The newest tourist spot in Paris is free. Every quarter hour from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., 300 people are allowed to see the flame.
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‘Message to the world’
Police officer Murielle Taupin, who was one of the first people to see the flame, cried, “It’s beautiful!”
There was something “frustrated” about the 52-year-old woman not being able to see the opening event up close.
Taupin said, “So I’m going to all the free outdoor races.” On Saturday, he watched road cyclists, and on Tuesday, he was going to cheer on triathletes.
Taupin said, “With the Tuileries setting, it’s beautiful.”
She was talking about what she called a “unbearable” political situation in the world. The show also gave people a chance to experience a moment of “sharing and communion.”
“This balloon is about lightness, it’s a message to the whole world,” he said.
The flame doesn’t need fuel for the first time in the history of the Olympics.
“The Olympic Flame will flicker with electricity as its only source of power,” French utility EDF said in a statement. “It will be a careful combination of a cloud of mist and beams of light.”
The company said that the ring “incorporates 40 LED spotlights to illuminate the cloud created by 200 high-pressure misting nozzles.” They also said that it made sure that water and electricity could flow 60 meters above the ground.
‘Clean energy’
Mathieu Lehanneur, a 49-year-old French designer, said he wanted the cauldron to be as open, obvious, and easy to get to “as possible.”
This is a nod to the hot air balloon that the Montgolfier brothers, two French aviators in the 18th century, created.
Nelly Li, from the United States, wore an Olympic rings-themed cap and said she came “to admire this new invention, which is eco-friendly and uses clean energy.”
Baptiste Ferlin, a teacher who is 35 years old, went to the Tuileries grounds to “enjoy the party.”
The idea of making Paris into “an Olympic stadium” was very appealing to Ferlin, who is now enjoying the chance to “experience the atmosphere of the Games.”
He came from the areas of Paris and walked along the Seine before getting to the flame.
“It makes for a wild party!”
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said she hoped that the Eiffel Tower rings, the balloon, and the statues of 10 French women that were part of the opening event could all stay in Paris.
“We should think about what these three symbols could mean,” Hidalgo told France Bleu.
“These three artistic, symbolic and magnificent objects deserve our full attention.”