See City of Lights sights: Athletes are as excited as regular visitors to be tourists in Paris during Olympic Games

PARIS — Paris is a popular destination for vacations, of course. The food and drink. The art and history. The landmarks.

The city itself will be one of the protagonists of the 2024 Olympic Games — which is why the Eiffel Tower and Seine River are featured just as prominently as gymnast Simone Biles or swimmer Katie Ledecky in NBC’s ads promoting its TV coverage — and the athletes heading to France, not to mention their friends and family, have been drawing up lengthy to-do lists of the various tastes they want to try and the sights they want to see.

“I’m excited to just explore and just take in everything Paris has to offer, because me and my friends, we look at things and we get inspired,” said breaker Jeffrey Louis, aka b-boy Jeffro. “We’re looking at the structure of buildings and we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s tight! We could do this; we could do that with this.’ We look at fashion and we’re like, ‘OK, what can we pull from and what can we add to our crew?’ So there’s a lot of things that we want to try and just explore.”

Some are eager to ride to the top of Gustave Eiffel’s creation from the 1880s, maybe even dine at its restaurant. The Louvre Museum, with its Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and so much more, is high on many lists. Alas, so is Notre Dame Cathedral, but its restoration after a 2019 fire will not be completed until well after the Summer Games, which opened Friday.

“Such a big city. A beautiful city,” diver Andrew Capobianco said.

Can’t forget all of the stuff to sample and sip.

The crepes. (“Eat as many crepes as you can if you’re in Paris,” track and field Paralympian Noelle Malkamaki said.) The espressos. (“I’m a big coffee guy; a coffee connoisseur,” 3×3 basketball player Dylan Travis said.) The croissants, baguettes and other baked goods. (“Looking forward to macaroons, pastries, bread,” sitting volleyball Paralympian Nicky Nieves said.)

The cheese, or, “fromages” — from Comte to Camembert, Roquefort to Brie. The escargots (“It kind of tastes like chicken,” artistic swimmer Daniella Ramirez said.) The steaks. The mousse. The crème brûlée. The wines — from the Loire Valley or Bordeaux or, of course, Champagne.

There are those, such as breaker Sunny Choi (“After the Games,” she said with a smile, “I will be eating everything”) or rower Michelle Sechser, who know they’ll need to set those sorts of culinary delights aside until the last part of their stay.

Can’t load up on all of that fun stuff too early.

“We do have weight-class restrictions; we have to weigh in two hours before a race,” Sechser said. “So after racing’s done, I’m most excited to get out and explore the Parisian food and really enjoy some French meals.”

Canoe/kayak star Evy Leibfarth, the first American woman to qualify in three whitewater events at an Olympics, looks at the situation from a different perspective.

She makes sure to fill herself with foods conducive to peak performance. But she also does not want to deny herself too much.

“If I’m going to be thinking about my croissant the whole time I’m paddling, I may as well just eat it, you know? So it’s all about balance,” said Leibfarth, a 20-year-old from North Carolina. “It’s just making sure that I’m getting the right amount of protein and the right amount of carbs before a race, while also balancing in the things that I want to eat, because it brings me so much joy.”

As she looked forward to her fifth trip to Paris, Leibfarth offered some words of wisdom to Olympians headed for the first time.

“Probably the best piece of advice I’d give is: See all of the touristy things you can — and then move on to the smaller things. Some of the little art galleries that you just run into, walking down the street, are some of the best that I’ve ever been in,” Leibfarth said. “So don’t be afraid to just drop the recommendations and everything and just walk around and find things to do, because that’s the best I’ve done. ”