For a small – but shocking – moment, Paris perhaps started to feel un peu passé. Rampant tourism in the last several years made other French cities and regions look comparatively more appealing; after all, no one wants to join thousands of other rubes pointing selfie sticks at the Eiffel Tower and eating overpriced croissants.
But then the Paris Olympics happened – with that gloriously mad opening ceremony and its joyful celebration of everything exuberant…