Paris abuzz ahead of Olympics' opening ceremony today

PARIS, July 25 (NBC News): Just a day before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony, the French capital was abuzz Thursday as it prepared to host the world's biggest sporting party.

Though the Olympics soft-launched Wednesday with soccer and rugby sevens, the real action will begin tomorrow (Friday) when the city will stage perhaps the most ambitious inauguration in the Games' history.

Almost 100 boats will take 10,500 athletes down the Seine - in many ways the star of the show over the next two weeks - in what will be the first time the ceremony has been held outside a single stadium.

The river is already lined with bleachers, and dotted with venues ready to host sports as varied as fencing and taekwondo to basketball and break dancing. And although these areas remain eerily quiet for now, protected by a network of high-security metal barriers, there was a festive atmosphere just up the street at the Arc de Triomphe, where people from all over the world had gathered.

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games, the opening ceremony, on Friday, will not take place in a stadium but in the heart of the city, on the River Seine. The parade will depart from the Austerlitz bridge and complete a 6km journey to the Trocadero for the ceremony's finale.

Athletes on board the 85 parade boats will get glimpses of some of the city's world-famous sights such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

More than 220 000 spectators will have free access to the upper banks of the Seine, and about 3 000 performers will be involved at various locations throughout Paris.

"You can feel the vibes in the air," said Vinicius Rodrigues, 32, from Sao Paulo. Under the arch of the iconic monument, he was dressed in the bright yellow of his home country alongside his wife, Aliene, 34, and two daughters, Maya, 3, and Chloe, 1.

This is the first Olympics they've traveled to. And despite their country failing to qualify for men's soccer, and therefore unable to defend its gold medal, the family spent Wednesday at the game between Spain and Uzbekistan at the city's Parc des Princes stadium. Though Spain won 2-1, it was the Uzbek fans' singing, chanting and impressive unison "thunder clapping" that charmed neutrals.

"It was amazing," beamed Rodrigues, who works as an electrical engineer. "