PARIS • Nothing says “Welcome to Paris” like a dude wielding a big, bad gun. Alongside gymnasts, swimmers and break-dancers, I have traveled to the City of Light for the Summer Olympics. But they aren’t fun and games to a small army of police and military personnel determined to keep Paris safe for more than 10,000 athletes on the world’s biggest athletic stage.
“Parlez-vous français?” said a policeman carrying an assault weapon as he stepped off the curb and stuck his hand inside the open window of an idling taxi where I was half asleep after a long overnight flight from Denver. Startled to attention by the intimidating gun on his back, I sat up straight as the vehicle waited at a stop light in the 17th Arrondissement, the beautiful Parisian neighborhood which flows northwest from the Arc de Triomphe in wide boulevards colorfully painted by leafy trees, roses and lavender. I quickly realized the policeman wasn’t interested in small talk with a knucklehead like me.
His mission was a random inspection of the back seat of the taxi transporting a foreigner. He asked to lift a shirt off the seats and move a backpack from the floorboard as he took a quick look. I respectfully obliged while my cabbie raised his hands in disbelief, shook his head in disgust and offered me apologetic eyes.
During the Olympics, Paris is more than determined to be “the safest place in the world.” Those words are a solemn, no-messing-around vow of Tony Estanguet, the man in charge .