Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Greetings from Paris, where the 2024 Olympics balloon rises again The floating Olympic cauldron, held aloft by a giant glowing balloon, is still making regular appearances two years after the 2024 Paris Games, showing up all summer long in the nighttime Paris sky. Special Series Far-Flung Postcards Greetings from Paris, where the 2024 Olympics balloon rises again September 9, 20269:56 AM ET Hannah Bloch
Hannah Bloch/NPR 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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