Paris 2024 - Day 14 (July 30th) - Men's Water Polo

Sean, who is allergic to morning, is complaining about another early start as we head to Centre Aquatique Saint-Denis for men’s water polo. But hey, at least it starts at 10:30 instead of 9! But this venue is right across the highway from the Stade de France so it will take a little more than an hour to get there. Unlike that Stade de France which has a Metro line 13 station right next to it, they have built a completely new station on the same line which also serves the Olympic Village. This turns out to be a good thing because as we come up the third escalator (this is a really deep station), a volunteer comes up to me and asks to trade. Here is what I got:

This is from the Nicaragua Olympic team and given that they only have 7 athletes, I’m very happy to get this pin. The volunteer only wanted a Paris pin in return, but I didn’t think that that was a fair trade for her, so I let her pick a second pin. It is going to be a good day! After a long walk, we get to the venue:

This time, security again questions my camera, this time going as far as to call a supervisor. My French is getting better, and I am able to explain to him that any lens 200 mm or less is okay and show him that this lens is 200 mm. He agrees and lets me in. We are a little early so I ask Beth and Sean if I can stop at the merchandise station and see if I can pick up some pins to replace the ones I traded. Surprisingly, the women working there had no idea that they had pins until I showed them the pins in their display case – clearly, the French are not buying pins, at least here. I’m able to get two each of six different styles which should hold me for at least a week given the lack of interest in them so far.

The Centre Aquatique is a mixed-use venue. Besides water polo, it is also the site for swimming and diving. Here is a view of the stadium:

Water polo and swimming are to the left and diving is to the right. I’m surprised to see that they actually sold tickets in the stands near the diving boards for water polo. Those seats have a pretty terrible view of the action, but I guess that they must be pretty inexpensive too.

Our first match is Serbia versus Australia. Serbia is currently ranked #3 in the world while Australia is ranked #9. But Australia, behind the strong goalkeeping of Nic Porter, jumps out to a 7-1 lead after three periods and ends up winning 8-3. Porter saving an outrageous 9 of 12 shots is a big reason for the upset. Here are some pictures from this match:

It is important to realize that for every second each athlete is in the pool, they are either actively swimming or treading water. I am amazed that they can get so far out of the water to shoot or block shots. But as always, I’m drawn to the action at the 2 m position. This is the easiest place to score from so the defense pays the most attention to the offense’s 2 m player. This generally involves looking like the defender is being mauled on the surface while yanking on the shooter's legs or swimsuit under water. Just like in basketball, if you raise both arms as if to say, “I didn’t do it”, you totally did do it! In the second match, we have Croatia (#6 in the world) versus Italy (#5 in the world). As expected, this was a close match. Croatia led 4-3 after one period, but Italy tied it at 6 at halftime. The third period was crucial as Italy outscored Croatia 6-3, mostly due to Croatian mistakes, to take a 12-9 lead. The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter for a final score of Italy 14 – Croatia 11.  Here are some of the pictures I took of this match:

With no skin in the game, we bail out a little bit early in order to beat the rush. This turns out to be a winning strategy as we are able to get onto the first train. But rather than heading home, Beth has tickets at the Sainte Chapelle, a gothic-style chapel built in 1248 CE in part of the Palais-de-la-Cité, which was home to the French Kings until the early 14^th century. We have to cross a bridge to get to the chapel and we can see Notre Dame in the distance:

Sainte Chapelle is a bit like a mini-Notre Dame, but without the flying buttresses. But it is the inside that the Sainte Chapelle is known for, especially it’s stained glass:

After our experience at the Opera, Beth takes the audio guide and Sean and I pass. But I don’t need anyone telling me to see stunning beauty! When we come outside, it is about 95F with high humidity. We decide that we need a gelato. The closest one is about half a mile out of our way, but it is Amarino, a chain that Beth and I discovered in Porto, Portugal and which also has a branch in the Montparnasse neighborhood. Besides the gelato, we walk by Notre Dame. Parisians had hoped that it would be open in time for the Olympics, but it was not to be. However, they have built a grandstand nearby to give people a place to watch the work on the church and to take their pictures and selfies. Here’s my view:

We have been sweating like pigs (do pigs really sweat?) all day, so after we cool ourselves down a little with the gelato, Sean and I are looking for Powerade electrolyte replacement (since it is a Coke product and they are an Olympic sponsor), but none of the three shops we’ve looked in have any. Disappointed, we head back to the Metro. We stop at Monoprix, a combination grocery and department store on our way back from the Montparnasse Metro station and find that a cooler in the Coke section has 3 Powerade bottles! We take all of them.

It is a good thing, because the temperature in our non-AC equipped Airbnb is in the mid-80’s. I chug one as soon as I get in the Airbnb. The heat is the deciding factor in where we are eating dinner – do they have AC? In addition, eating heated food does not seem like a great idea so we settle on sushi. While we definitely enjoyed eating in cool conditions, it somehow made the heat feel that much worse when we finally go back outside. With the humidity as high as it is, our Airbnb hasn’t cooled appreciably by the time we have to go to bed. Beth and I park the one portable fan (Sean's room stays a bit cooler luckily) in the apartment at the end of the bed, open all of the windows and try to sleep. Sean just stays up until the breeze coming in his window finally cools the room down enough to sleep. Steps for the day: 15,114.