PREVIEW

The Olympic Torch finally arrived in Paris on Sunday - Bastille Day - for two days of celebrations in the heart of the city. The route of the Olympic Torch Relay lit up the French capital’s historic sites. 220 torchbearers took it in turns to carry the Olympic Torch, with Thierry Henry getting matters underway on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées while tennis legend Yannick Noah lit the celebration cauldron in front of the Hôtel de Ville at the end of the night. The relay continued its route to the Petit Palais Museum where four opera singers performed a rendition of famous opera arias before the Olympic Torch was taken to the capital’s political institutions. It went through the Grand Mosque of Paris, before making its way past Notre Dame Cathedral and the Mémorial de la Shoah holocaust museum. It then headed to Place de la Bastille where a major dance performance enchanted the spectators with dancers from the Paris Opera giving a rendition of Swan Lake. A tribute to the victims of the attacks of 13 November 2015 took place outside the Bataclan Theatre. The flame also visited the Louvre and its famous paintings like the Mona Lisa and Liberty Leading the People. Closing the evening was the Concert de Paris, with Noah lighting the cauldron, followed by fireworks from the Eiffel Tower.