One of my favourite things to do is to flâner in Paris, a la Hemingway. Paris is a city made for walking around. It’s also through doing this that you realise how all the areas are connected, and that the Place des Vosges leads into the Marais which ends at the Pompidou Centre or that Bastille takes you to Ile St Louis which takes you to the Cite which is across from the Louvre. Or you might end up at the Olympic megastore on the Champs Élysées! Funnily enough, in the 5 minutes I waited for a friend out the front I was asked five questions. Everyone recognises the volunteer uniform.

The metro system is really amazing and takes you everywhere for a good price but you don’t get to see the sights and well, the smell is less fresh 😳

The start and end of the triathlon and marathons happened on Pont Alexandre III.

There are so many cute cafes and gorgeous old buildings and lovely architecture in Paris.

I popped into the Conciergerie, for free as a volunteer, as it some of my favourite buildings. It was originally the Royal Palace and much improved in medieval times by Philippe IV le Bel . It was only later that it became a prison and housed Queen Marie Antoinette.

When you are not in a hurry and have no particular plan (rare for me) you get the most out of Paris and its secrets.

The Eiffel Tower is still my favourite monument by far and I adore the structure, the fact it was supposed to be temporary and her sparkling beauty.

I have been able to catch a few minutes of the blind football at the stunning Eiffel Tower stadium, during both day and night shifts. The football players are quite amazing and play very hard, there are lots of physical clashes. They all wear an eye mask so all visual impairments at equalised and they use the fence on the border of the pitch quite a lot to situate themselves. The ball makes a sound so part of our role as volunteers is to keep everyone quiet so the players can hear the ball 🤫 !

The stadium at Champs de Mars has been turned into a venue for judo, with a huge mat in the middle of the venue. There are lots of categories in the judo and so there have been many events and medal ceremonies over the past few days.

We have had quite a few VIPs and yesterday a large Swedish delegation with Queen Silvia of Sweden. I got to drive her back to her car in my little EV vehicle.

The blind football had two very exciting semi- finals to set up for the Gold medal match. France beat Columbia 1-0 right near the end to the support of a large crowd, which included the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo and Tony Estanguet, the President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.

The second semi- final was between Argentina and six times Paralympic champions Brésil.

The match ended nil all and went straight to penalty shootouts! Both teams scored the first and then second and then both missed. Then it went to sudden death for another 3 rounds until the Brazilian missed and Argentina won the game.

Allez les Bleues for Gold!

I had a great experience at the Stade de France tonight at the athletics. All the volunteers were offered free tickets on different days and I am glad I went. There was a lot happening at any given moment, running events and javelin, long jump, shot put and discus, all interspersed with medal ceremonies. I can only imagine the massive spreadsheet that organised all the movements!

I got to see a few Australians compete which was great. I saw Michael Burian do a number of javelin throws and then, win the bronze medal! It was great to see him compete and then his medal ceremony.

I thought the little remote control cars they used to return the javelins were pretty nifty!

As I was leaving, I couldn’t believe it but I saw Michael with family and so I congratulated him and asked for a photo! He seemed happy to agree!

I also got to see two other Aussies race who unfortunately didn’t make it the finals. Telaya Blacksmith is a young indigenous woman from the NT. I got a photo of her as she was leading her 400m race going into the bend.

I also got to see Samuel Rizzo in his 1500m wheelchair race which was very exciting but not the result he hoped for.

It was great to be so close to the action and it really made it feel real rather than watching on TV. Seeing the athletes up close the past few days at the rugby and tonight, really made me feel in awe of their achievements. Not only are they elite athletes but they have each had to overcome personal challenges of some kind, many of them pretty serious ones. This makes their efforts all the more impressive. While the dedication of all athletes is impressive, the resilience and determination shown in the Paralympics is really at another level. It has been inspirational being here and I am so glad I came.

Friends and I have been discussing why we hold separate Olympics with a separate opening and closing ceremony. Sure there are some logistics to consider, but wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a single, joined up opening and closing ceremony and paralympic events were interspersed with olympic events? Something for Brisbane 2032 to ponder.

I was very lucky to be in the volunteer team at the Champs de Mars stadium today as I got to see Australia win bronze! It was so exciting and nerve wracking. It was a very close game and we just edged out the UK in the end, 50-48.

It was so great to see the players so happy, they fought a tough game. The two stars Bond and Batt did really well.

My UK colleague volunteer and I waited to see the players at the end ( after our shift) and we followed them out to where all their family and friends were waiting! A lot of happiness and cheering for the Aussies and a bit sad for the Brits.

Our volunteer teams are starting to get some good systems in place to manage the flow of officials and those with mobility needs. I have had some fun driving the EVs around and meeting different groups including our Australian officials and some friendly Kiwis. We had rain yesterday and today so the Champs de Mars turned into a bit of a mud pit!

The food being served for both visitors and volunteers has been heavily based on vegetarian meals. This is part of Paris’ push for sustainability. I think it has been delicious!

I was lucky enough to get to see our Australian Steelers third game today. Another win after beating France last night and we await a place in the finals, which depends on other

matches tonight.

It was another great ambiance in the stadium!

It was a pretty tight game and it was great to see the tactics being used. I didn’t fully understand it all but clearly our team were using tactics to our advantage. When you have the ball, you have 10 seconds to pass or dribble. When your team has the ball, you have 40 seconds to score. Plus there were some fouls and then the player had to sit out. Our very strong players, Ryley Batt and Chris Bond, really dominate physically and control the game. They would often almost score and then tease the opposition and run down time on the clock.

The players actually fall over reasonably often in the chairs due the violent clashes. Like other sports, floor cleaners are required. 😁

We were allowed to go down onto the court for a team photo at the end of our shift.

I decided to ride a bike back home rather than the metro as it was a nice afternoon. There are so many bike lanes in Paris now and it was really easy to rid from the Champs de Mars to the 11th. There were a lot of other cyclists and people out and about.

I used the Uber app to take a Lime bike and it was really easy. It did cost 13€ though, which is a bit more than my free metro card 🤔.

I had a great first day as I got to see some of the Australia v UK wheelchair rugby! It was a little chaotic in the grandstand at the start but memories of managing the VIP seating at Anzac Day came flooding back.

We started with a lesson on the electric mobility cars. They are bigger than golf carts and pretty nifty.

The atmosphere in the stadium for the game was amazing! The seats were full and there were lots of Australian spectators. Our Australian Minister for Sport was also there. It was very busy managing the Officials arriving and finding them seats but I did get to see some of the game. It was a really close game, very even until the last two minutes when unfortunately the UK got a few points ahead. Some of our players were so fast and powerful and very agile in their chairs.

I spent the afternoon outdoors, directing officials. I saw the Australian team depart.

My first taste of the Paralympics was the orientation day where I met the paid staff and fellow volunteers and learned about the site and my role.

On the way in the metro, fellow volunteers grouped together as we are easily identifiable in our uniform. I sat with a man and a woman who had also volunteered at the Olympics. She has been at the gymnastics and he at the football and they had lots of stories to share. It was quite exciting going through the security checks to be seated for the first presentation in the Eiffel Tower stadium!

The beach volleyball ground has been replaced by a court sized soccer pitch with artificial grass ready for the blind football, in French Cecifoot.

We moved to the VIP lounge where we had a detailed presentation of our roles. We are called the protocol team and all up we are about 70 people for the whole site which includes the two stadiums. We will be working at different times so there will be about 25-30 of us at any time and 4 paid staff.

We will be looking after the people in the Paralympic Family. This includes members of the International Paralympic Committee, National Paralympic Committees, Official delegations such as Prime Ministers or Ministers and heads of Federations of the sports. Basically the VIPs of the games but they don’t use that word. I will be helping them find their way in site and getting to their seats to watch the events. We also manage the VIP seating in the stadiums and prepare the medal ceremonies.

We then went on a big walk around the site to familiarise ourselves with the key locations and access points.

The Champ de Mars stadium is for the wheelchair rugby and then judo. You may have seen the TV documentary about the Australian wheelchair rugby team called Forged in Steel on channel 9. I am hoping I might get to be around that stadium when they play.

In the afternoon we were lucky enough to get the chance to try out both blind football and wheelchair rugby! The idea was to help us better understand the sports and appreciate the efforts of the Athletes.

I was very lucky to get to hold an Olympic torch!

Today was supposed to be the warmest day all week (24) so we thought we’d better go to the beach!

On the way we stopped at Pont Audemer. This is a village off the freeway that I have wanted to stop at for ages. Self described as Venice of the north, it has some lovely little canals and waterways through the village. (Side note: I wondered how many places use ‘Venice of the north’ as I have heard it before. Turns out almost every country north of Italy has at least one! Bruge, Amsterdam, Lofoten, Stockholm). There were lots of half timbered houses and the obligatory cathedral. It was previously a town with a tanning and leather industry. The famous Thierry Hermes was an apprentice here in 1821.

The village is famous for a little pastry called a Mirliton and a special kind of baguette called a Parisse. The Mirliton is a biscuit with a praline mousse inside and each end stopped up with chocolate. It was designed by a chef to the kings in 1340. The Parisse uses a special recipe that only artisan bakers can use to make the bread, which has extra crunch on the outside. We can vouch for both 😊

We continued on towards the coast at Honfleur. Honfleur is a very cute old town that has retained its character. It sits on the estuary where the Seine meets the English Channel. It was once an important trading port with North America and one local man left Honfleur to establish Quebec! Interestingly, there was also a project underway to reconstruct a boat like William the Conqueror used to conquer England. Perhaps we can visit it next time.

Another special part of Honfleur is the Église of St Catherine as it is one of the rare churches in France built of wood. (Catherine is the patron saint of students, philosophers and genealogists, amongst other things!)

The Town was pretty full of tourists and it is very small so it was crowded and so, we had to stop for lunch.

Honfleur was one of the rare Normande towns that was not bombed to destruction during the Second World War and this is why we get to see today how looked in the 16th century. There was however a huge concrete blockhaus left right near the town centre that seems to have been turned into a museum.

We finally made it to the beach after driving along the coast to try to get away from the crowds. We found a tiny little laneway with barely enough room to park the car and walked along a lush green scenery until we reached the beach. The beach actually had sand instead of pebbles although with lots of flint rocks that you see everywhere in Normandie. It was a very pleasant 25 degrees. It couldn’t feel more different from going to the beach in Australia!

It is lovely to come back to the farmhouse and rediscover the old walls and the peaceful sounds. It’s holding up pretty well under the rigours of Airbnb usage.

It needs a deep clean and the garden needs some love, and they are both things I can do.

I think the apple tree has died 🙁. It wasn’t looking good two years ago and no leaves now despite it being summer.

I will need to trim the fruit trees that I planted several years ago. I found a single pear on the tree!

It has apparently been a funny summer, quite cool and rainy but with a recent heatwave. The plants look a bit unhappy. The roses did not get a decent prune when they should have and are a bit overgrown. We wanted to make the most of the sunshine and so we did a lot of gardening today.

Lavinia was quite concerned about the ponies next door. We have always loved them as a feature of the place. There only seems to be one now on her own. Lavinia noticed she didn’t seem to have any water so she filled up her water bucket.

Lavinia got the hang of the big trimmer.

The council is not keeping up with the mowing of the public path to the Seine which is such a shame as it’s a lovely path. I did my bit after wrangling the whipper snipper. A nice change from wrangling Teams meetings 😁.

At the end of the day we walked down to the Seine along the path, which we both agreed is quite magical. It has been a lovely peaceful day. Perhaps one vehicle went past, a few boats on the river and some families going for a walk. It’s definitely a restful place for the soul.

It has been two years since my last visit to France which is sooner than the gap before. Hopefully the next trip will be sooner than two years.

The purpose for this trip is that I am volunteering at the Paris Paralympics!

I applied a year ago and went through all the steps and was offered a ‘mission’ (role) and then did all the online training.

Today I went to collect my accreditation and uniform. I discovered that my mission has a changed a bit. I will be part of the Protocol team at the Champs de Mars/Eiffel Tower venue. This means looking after VIPs at the competition venue.

There are two temporary stadiums on the Champs de Mars which is directly in front of the Eiffel Tower. The closest to the tower was where the beach volleyball was in the Olympics. This will have cecifoot or visually impaired football.

The second stadium is a huge venue built to house exhibitions while the Grand Palais is being renovated and turned into Olympics venue.

It will have Paralympic Judo and wheelchair rugby. I will have to wait and see exactly what I will be doing but Australia is in the wheelchair rugby!

It was fun going to collect my uniform after a bit of a wait for the accreditation.

The uniform is sponsored by a big sports store called Decathlon which I think has come to Australia. We used to love it when we lived here for cheaper but good quality sports clothes and equipment. The funny thing is they gave me receipt for all the items, even though I didn’t have to pay. I guess so that I know they were sponsored by Decathlon?

Lavinia and I have had fun walking around and visiting some familiar places.