Over the hills, under the moon - and off the beaten path

Why go to Paris during the Olympics, when you have almost zero interest in sports? Well, we  imagined ourselves being at the epicenter of a global phenomenon, but upon arrival, we find the streets remarkably... ordinary.  We knew of course that  the roving  bands of athletes,  the spontaneous outbursts of national anthems and the fever of competition were within the concrete confines of various stadiums, but we actually  thought the excitement would spill out into the streets. But no. Except for a few fan zones scattered around the city, the much-vaunted Olympic spirit is safely contained inside a labyrinth of barriers and checkpoints. When we arrived, Paris did look like we had never seen it before with some forty thousand barriers dotting the cityscape, like some absurdist art installation gone awry. The river Seine was  off-limits to the unwashed masses, and only those blessed with a personal QR code might grac...