IT IS one of the curiosities of Paris that a city among the planet’s most visited by tourists can feel quite so impenetrable to outsiders, full of codes to crack and faux pas’ to be swerved.
“You can’t walk into a restaurant demanding dinner at 6pm while wearing orange shorts and an Ohio State sweatshirt,” author Simon Kuper writes in his book Impossible City, a memoir of his, at times, painfully slow infiltration of Parisian life as resident across two decades. “There is a right way to do everything in Paris, and it was probably decided before you were born.”
Not then, at first glance, a host with natural inclination to throw arms open to the world. The Olympics, though, can do funny things to people and mood, as Londoners have spent the past dozen years attesting in tones of mournful reminisce, and Paris has been waiting a full century for the Games of 1900 and 1924 to make their hat-trick return.
That gap is not for want of trying: a long courtship punctuated by failed bids, and after the shock, stinging defeat to London in the race for 2012, appetite for another tilt was not widespread. Even now, on the eve of the Games, as some Parisians prepare to fall wilfully head over heels, others remain of the “never-liked-him-anyway” mind.
Denne historien er fra July 25, 2024-utgaven av Evening Standard.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July 25, 2024-utgaven av Evening Standard.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The era of longevity is almost upon us. But can our minds really keep up?
A post-ageing world is just around the corner, says longevity scientist AUBREY DE GREY, and it’s going to change the way we live
Hidden London
SECRET SPOTS YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO DISCOVER
How Christian Louboutin fell in love with Melides in Portugal
The wild beauty of this seaside village charmed the French fashion designer so much that he made it his home
Actor Millie Bobby Brown romances in Hyde Park, feasts at Sheesh and buys thelot at Harrods
Interview with Actor Millie Bobby Brown
How will Arteta manage without influential Edu?
Arsenal need smooth transition between eras just like Man City
"I had no one in Manchester apart from my PlayStation"
Aaron Wan-Bissaka was a young man rated among the country's most promising footballers when Manchester United came calling in the summer of 2019.
The battle for the soul of Soho
Inside the war between London's porn baron family and the council they say is killing the vibe
At the table: Sad steaks seasoned with despair
Fetch the smelling salts, you're in for a shock: A Restaurant Critic Hates a Famously Terrible Restaurant. Low-hanging fruit? Perhaps.
Class portrait Nobody else writes about middle England so acutely
Tessa Hadley's first novella depicts women in refreshing ways
How a tiny cult radio station in Hackney took over the world
I think the most obscure place I've had a listener email from so far was probably a guy in the Yukon,\" laughs Flo Dill, the host of NTS Radio's flagship morning show.