One of the highlights of the 2024 Paris Olympics was, for me, the sight at the opening ceremony of the floating cauldron held aloft by a giant glowing balloon. So I was thrilled to learn on a recent visit that the vasque — the cauldron — is still making regular appearances two years later, showing up all summer long in the nighttime Paris sky.
Along with hundreds of other spectators, I settled into a spot on the grass between the Louvre and Tuileries Garden to wait and watch on a warm August evening. A couple of hours before the balloon’s liftoff from the Tuileries, the area was already packed.
At 9:30 p.m., a hush fell as the luminous balloon began its slow ascent. Some people broke into applause. As the balloon carrying the cauldron rose and bobbed a couple hundred feet overhead, many got busy taking photos and recording videos and selfies.
I snapped this picture, then put my phone away. No photo could match the wonder of seeing this. It put me in mind of the magic of a much smaller Parisian balloon, the one from the classic French film The Red Balloon. And I couldn’t help but appreciate that in a season when skies across Europe have been marred by wildfire smoke and drones, here was a reason to look up in joy — an event of no purpose other than delight.
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