Paris 2024 Day 3 - 5

This morning I should have started rowing at 6:30 am, about 40 km. Unfortunately, there was a heavy thunderstorm this morning, which still hadn't ended by 7:30am. So laundry, shopping and writing the blog. Today at lunchtime I'm off to the canoe slalom at the water sports stadium in Vaires-sur-Marne. What happened during the days? First of all, thanks to social media, I met old friends in the middle of Paris, in front of the volleyball stadium. Or rather, Lena and her sister had just come out of a match and I was waiting to be let in for the game. So we had a coffee and chatted. Then I had to go too, Serbia vs France in women's volleyball. At the beginning the crowed was great, but it soon became clear that Serbia was clearly better. A straight 3 set win, but still a great atmosphere. As I only had one competition, I traveled by public transport and the return went quite well. In the metro it was a bit like being in a sardine can, but that soon went away. I was home by midnight and I realized that I wasn't the only Olympic visitor living in “GaWeDr”. The next morning, I set off on my bike to play table tennis. I tried a new route, directly through the airport, which is faster and shorter than along the Seine, but also directly along the four-lane highway. You can do that if you're in a hurry. The competition, great! After the two laps, back on the bike in 37 degrees, I didn't want to spend the day in the hot city and in the evening I took the public transport back to the beach volleyball stadium under the Eiffel Tower. My God, what a stadium, what an atmosphere. Unfortunately no exciting matches, only 2 set wins, but oh my God those Spanish girls, I was briefly in love with them. Unfortunately, they clearly lost against the Brazilians. Then home again, past the shining Eiffel Tower and the Olympic flame, it's quick if you know the way. Day 5 and I had to get up early, 40 km to La Défense for a swim. It's quick in the morning, if it hadn't been for the detour due to the triathlon it would have been even quicker. In the meantime, I listen to the ARD Olympic radio while I'm on the road, great program. The swim itself was over quickly, I had a bad day and a really bad place for the ticket prices, well at least I got to swim once. Then I went to La Défense for a bit and met up with Lena and her sister again for coffee at the field hockey stadium. They came out again and I waited to get in. There is a bicycle parking lot at every stadium, mostly guarded, which I think is great, very modern. I was lucky with my ticket choice, Germany vs Holland men's field hockey. Great game. The many Dutch people went home disappointed, not only because the men had lost but also because the women's game was canceled due to the weather.  For me, it was another 42 km back through Paris that evening. On the one hand, I was relatively tired, and on the other hand, traveling through Paris in the evening is nowhere near as fast as in the morning when everyone is still asleep. So now I have to go straight away, in the midday heat, it's going to be rough, I'm into it, in that sense.