Rowan Ainsworth, the immediate past Australian consul general in Calcutta, is back to the city, from where she had travelled to India in end-2020. “I am on vacation,” she tells t2oS from Paris over a WhatsApp call.

For Ainsworth, therefore, it is a “burst of nostalgia” to be back in the French capital, “looking at the Eiffel Tower again”.

And she watched Friday’s Olympic Games inauguration — yes, you are reading it right — from the terrace of her living quarters.

She is staying in a residential building that is part of the Australian embassy, which is right in the thick of things — the red zone. “It’s in the 15th arrondissement, near the Eiffel Tower and on the Seine.”

That meant the parade of over 90 boats carrying the 6,800-plus athletes 6km down the river took place right in front of them. Ainsworth and her friends at the embassy watched the boats finish their journeys from the rooftop. “Everyone disembarked, many crossed over Bir Hakeim bridge and were picked up in coaches to be taken into the Trocadero on the other side of the river,” she says.

Rowan Ainsworth on the rooftop of her residential quarters in Paris from where she watched the inauguration

The Trocadero is an expansive complex of museums, sculptures, gardens and fountains that are currently affording great viewing experiences for the triathlon, road cycling, and athletics (marathon and 20km race walk) events. That is where the opening ceremony continued at the end of the voyage down the Seine.

The rain dampened the city but didn’t dampen everyone’s spirits, she insists. “As the Parade of Nations ended, the Eiffel Tower lit up and you could see the joy and excitement on all the faces of the French athletes on the final boat.”

Countdown to the Games

The diplomat has been enjoying the general celebratory atmosphere that has captured the city since she landed in Paris on July 10. “I’m not sure whether all French people, especially the Parisians, welcome the Games — or at least the inconveniences they cause — but for us visitors it is lovely to see the city all scrubbed up and shiny, ready to welcome the competitors and show the world why Paris is ranked one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” she says.

The Seine is a major venue this Olympics. Not only did it host the inauguration on Friday but the triathlon and marathon swimming legs of the Olympics are also due to be held in the river. “The mayor of Paris is very confident that the water quality is fine. ‘Put your money where your mouth is’, the saying goes, and she hopped right in, didn’t she?” Ainsworth chuckles, referring to mayor Anne Hidalgo’s bid to convince doubters by taking a plunge in the Seine on July 17.

The Olympic rings in greenery on the local swimming pool’s rooftop

There have been “small inconveniences” in the run-up to the Games, she admits.

“Sometimes we are not being allowed to take the shortest route to the Metro station and have had to walk around. But it wasn’t hugely inconvenient. It has been getting a lot stricter as the opening ceremony approached,” she says. Ainsworth has got the all-important QR code from the traffic authorities that are required to get access to areas in the red and grey zones.

From her living quarters, she can see not only the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero across the river but also the roof of the building housing the local swimming pool. “I don’t know if it will be used for the Olympics. But on its roof, with flowering plants like tulips and irises, they have created the Olympic rings in the appropriate colours. The flowers have all bloomed already but the greens shaping the circles remain. It was a lovely floral tribute.”

On her way to the local food market Ainsworth has been noticing Paris 2024 flags going up on the streetlights, and also ‘Bienvenue’ signages all over the area. “The market is close by and held twice a week. Because it is this time of year — people take their holidays in July and August — the markets are quieter and usually some of them close altogether. This year, they are still open and I have been getting my supply of fruits, vegetables, French cheese and lovely cuts of ham on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I do love the markets here,” she says.

On the side of the Eiffel Tower that faces the river and the Trocadero, the Olympic rings have been mounted. “The holiday season means people are not working so much. There’s a holiday atmosphere. A frisson in the air! On the way back from the supermarket a few days ago, I was treated to the Olympic flame passing by,” Ainsworth marvels.

A lot of the Metro stations were shut in preparation of the Olympics for security reasons. “Some of them were on Line 6 which comes across the Seine from Trocadero to Bir-Hakeim, our nearest station, which is also where you get off to reach the Eiffel Tower. The streets around here have become unusually quiet.”

In the opening ceremony, while the boat carrying the athletes of France was the last in the Parade of Nations as the organising nation, the US and Australia boats also had specific positions — 203rd and 204th — as Los Angeles and Brisbane are set to host the next two Summer Olympics, in 2028 and 2032 respectively.

The Australian athletes have been arriving, though, being on vacation, Ainsworth has not had a chance to meet them at the Games Village. “But it is great to be here seeing Paris putting on a show for everybody,” Ainsworth says.

On the last Saturday before the Games inauguration, the Australian embassy had more than 300 visitors over for an Open Day. “Anyone could register and come along. We had a lot of French guests and some Australians too. There were pictures of past Olympics as well as uniforms and medals on display. We had a demonstration court set up for wheelchair badminton where French former paralympic athletes tested themselves against our visitors. There was a bit of Bocce (a bowling game), and models dressed up in Olympic uniforms of past years. Visitors could dress up too, and have their pictures taken in such uniforms. So it was both a welcome to Brisbane 2032 and the start of the Olympics here,” she recalls.

Asked to comment on the disciplines she would be following, Ainsworth says: “Australians are always keen on the swimming team. Swimming is at the beginning of the Olympics. So we look forward to beginning the Games with a bang.”

But she will not be around to catch the action in the pool. “I escaped on Saturday, right after the inauguration, and for the next few days will watch the Games on the telly from London.” She will be back in early August, though, and “catch the tail end of the Olympics”.