A spectacular opening ceremony wowed a global audience despite Paris' on-and-off rain

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Paris Summer Olympic Games have officially begun with today's opening ceremony. For the first time ever, the ritzy event was not held in a stadium, but outdoors, floating down a river. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the Seine to watch the parade of nations as athletes cruised by on boats. NPR had folks all along the 4-mile route, and we are joined by two of them - sports correspondent Becky Sullivan and our own ALL THINGS CONSIDERED co-host, Juana Summers. It's good to have you both here.

BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Thanks for having us.

SHAPIRO: It looked wet. I saw lots of umbrellas. Becky, what were your top-line impressions?

SULLIVAN: You know, I think that there were some people who were ready to roll their eyes at this concept of a river ceremony. There were a lot of complaints beforehand that it was only going to work for TV viewers, of which, I should note, there might literally be a billion, some estimates say. But I must say, where I was on - alongside the Seine, it was magical.

The scenery was unmatched. From my vantage point on the left bank, I could see both the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the magnificent Hotel de Ville in my eyeshot. And then just every part of it - the music, all the French composers and musicians, the dancers and performers who were doing it all live. The comeback of Celine Dion...

SUMMERS: Right.

SULLIVAN: ...Really was amazing. And then, of course, just the boats with the athletes with the delegations - to me, it was so wonderful to see them standing out there in the rain, as you mentioned.

SUMMERS: And I think the thing that I kept seeing as I saw the boats go past, Becky and Ari, was the joy on their faces, even though, at times, it was pouring down raining. I don't think any of my clothes stayed dry. People just seemed so happy to be there and to be a part of this event that's really once in a lifetime.

SULLIVAN: It was amazing.

SHAPIRO: And perhaps a billion people watching on TV, but more than ever before in person - 300,000 people were given entry to line the river. What was that like?

SULLIVAN: I mean, just right around me, Ari, were, like - I could see at least a dozen or more nationalities represented. You had Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Spain, the U.K. and then, of course, just so, so many French fans. And then the magic of the river ceremony was that there were thousands of people who were outside the security perimeter who could still see it, and so you saw people leaning out of apartment balconies along every building that was along the riverside.

In the streets, you could catch a glimpse of it. And so we had a producer, Fatima Al-Kassab, who was out strolling the street. She found this couple visiting from the Netherlands on vacation who had climbed up into the window of a building and were holding onto the window grate to watch. Here is one of them, Corenh Ouwehands. She said it was all worth that effort.

CORENH OUWEHANDS: This is, like, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So yeah, we want to see everything, actually. I cannot describe it. It's so amazing. I can see all cultures gathering together, all getting along. It's very nice to see this.

SULLIVAN: And Ari, I just have to tell you, the vibes were pretty immaculate today. Just outside of the area where I ended up watching much of the opening ceremony, there were kind of these tents lined where people could buy cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches or a whole lot of beer. At one point near the end, after people had been standing for a number of hours, there were actually people who were either volunteers or workers with the Olympics who had kind of started a dance party literally on the bridge. People seemed to be having a blast. I think all of the organizing that went into this, it really seemed to pay off for the people who attended.

SHAPIRO: And that's all the more impressive not only because of the rain, but also because the day started on this very dark note with these apparently coordinated arson attacks on high-speed rail lines. Juana, did that overshadow the ceremony at all?

SUMMERS: You know, it didn't. I will say, as I was walking around and I was talking to people ahead of the opening ceremony beginning, a couple people did mention to me, you know, that this was top of mind, particularly some people who had traveled here to Paris from elsewhere. They said they were concerned about it. But, I mean, as we've been reporting on the security of these games, that's been top mind of organizers, and I think it's going to be something that we're all going to be thinking about for the weeks ahead.

SHAPIRO: Just...

SULLIVAN: And...

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

SULLIVAN: To just get back to your point, Ari, like, it not overshadowing by the end - you know, so there were just thousands of police officers - reportedly 45,000 police officers - along the River Seine tonight. And the mood was just not tense at all. By the end, there were police...

SUMMERS: Yeah.

SULLIVAN: ...Officers who were joining in with the applause for the French delegation as that boat went by. So just the same as everybody else - all of the French people in the stands, all of the international fans there clapping for the hosts.

SHAPIRO: All right.

SULLIVAN: The police joining in, too - it was wonderful.

SHAPIRO: Becky Sullivan and Juana Summers, great to talk to you both.

SULLIVAN: Thank you, Ari.

SUMMERS: Thanks, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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