I’m not sure if this will be consistent or not; working on a sample size of 1.
But for those streaming Peacock to watch the Olympics, I found that in one case (US vs CZE in Women’s Beach Volleyball), you get a different feed depending on how you start it. If you follow the regular links of what’s “Live”, you seem to get the NBC feed, with US-Centric commentators making small-talk; if you go to “See All Sports” and select the sport then select from there, you get what I think is the International or perhaps raw feed. Not only did we hear the announcers we are used to for international play, but almost no commercials!
No idea if it will hold for other sports, or even other games, but glad I ended up finding it when I did.
The International Band is the ambient audio without commentators. I’m in Europe and I’d love to find a station that broadcasts International Band because most of the time the commentators insist on describing what we’re already watching. As if we are idiots.
I will try Peacock…
This is for Nisha. . The broadcasts have shown various scenes from Paris, many of the of the Louvre. The Louvre photos are always from the same direction, looking into the courtyard with the Pyramid in the middle. Here are some of my personal photos showing the scene from other directions.
Taken from inside the Louvre on an upper floor. (You can see security wires embedded in the glass).
Here is a view that you rarely see. This was taken from inside the Pyramid looking up. The Pyramid is the entrance to the Louvre Museum. From there, visitors choose which wing(s) to visit.
Our main sport to follow is beach volleyball; having it played at Eiffel Tower Stadium is awesome! Unbelievable location.
BTW, if you didn’t watch any of the rugby 7s, watch the women’s bronze match. I still haven’t figured out what’s going on much of the time, but it was a fun watch (and only about 20 minutes game time, including time-outs).
I figure that with replays available, we’ll probably spend the next month catching up on everything! Really great to watch the WHOLE finals of the field events, not just the last 3-4 competitors in their final attempt (although triple-jump still looks a bit silly to me).
Oh yeah, the canoe events are extreme! I took kayak in college, so understand a bit of what that water is doing; the stuff they do is insane!
They have made some (hopefully) temporary changes to the city for the Olympics. I’m hoping most of them will be removed once the games are over. Visitors prefer to see the old city.
My first visit there, I stayed with a French friend who lived in late 17th / early 18th century building with no elevator in the First Arrondissement. How much history had that building seen over the years?
Since from the angle you can also see the Jardin de Tulieries beyond the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (the lesser-known Arc), I gotta post this awesome Palais des Tuileries history lesson, with excellent then-and-now visuals, for any fellow interested history buffs.
It’s sad that the Palais des Tuileries was torn down but I am glad that the gardens are there now.
I was listening to one of the American commentators in Paris and he pronounced the name as TOO-leries. It is pronounced TWEE-leries. I always enjoyed hearing the pre-recorded announcement for this stop on the Métro (subway). The Tuileries station has some of the best artwork and decoration on the line.
After a few trips here and abroad, one of the things that I started doing when traveling is to visit movie filming locations, either seeking them out intentionally and or discovering which ones I had already visited. Once while I was browsing old travel photos I looked at this one and thought that it looked familiar. So I did some research and discovered yes, it was once a filming site. Does this scene look familiar to you at all?
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I was just standing on the bridge taking random photos of Paris. It wasn’t until several years later that I realized that I was at the same spot where the Griswolds had lunch.
Sometimes when you visit movie filming locations they don’t always look the way they did in the movie. Here’s one that I visited during November. No leaves on the trees and they were doing some work on the grounds.
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Most places in the U.S. have one or more local/regional citizens participating in the Olympics. One of the participants from our area just won a Gold Medal in the women’s long jump. Tara Davis-Woodhall is an assistant track coach at the local university.
I’m hoping that they will have some sort of ceremony here for her where visitors can see the medal. It’s not every day that you get to see an Olympic medal let alone a Gold one.
We have the full Peacock subscription; we’re still watching replays (so no spoilers). Still have to watch Women’s pole vault, Men’s and Women’s long jump, Men’s high jump, BMX park, skateboard park, and a couple of other things. Figure it will be another week before we’re ready to watch the closing ceremony.
Did watch a bit of the Breaking; interesting, but a few minutes is enough. And also the Kayak Cross; which I think is the event most like a Mario video game. (again, fun to check out; one round is enough for us).
As for “think I can”, I’ve actually competed at a professional level when younger. I know that I can’t (and never could) come close to what they are doing. Although I might be able to put a shot 3m; but it would take a few tries. (for everything else, convert Meters to Feet; I still can’t do it!)
50+ years ago … ran 1/2 mile, mile, 2 mile and cross country … with respectable times …
alas the need to put food on the table doused the golden dreams …
We actually have it planned out. The next Beach Volleyball tournament is in Hamburg, and starts a week from Thursday. So the Olympics will just about cover that time.
(disappointed at the US women in Beach; thought they would do better. But other teams really upped their game).
I’m sure you’ve seen the video(s) of her husband (who, of course, has his own story!) in the stands when she does this. He’s mic’d up and cheering her on with such crazy abandon!
Absolutely brought a tear to my eye when she ran over, after, and jumped up into his arms. If that wasn’t a moment, I don’t know what is.
They should be the poster couple for the whole entire Olympics. Team Tara!
(There are quite a few videos, but the one I’m referring to was on Instagram, attributed to bossgram . daily)
There’s always some great stuff at the Olympics, but I think my highlights are the Bronze medal match in Women’s Rugby, and the Women’s Triple Jump, where the winner was the first person EVER from her country to medal in the Olympics; so the first time her national anthem was ever played there (plus, possibly the coolest flag of any country).
. The broadcasts have shown various scenes from Paris, many of the of the Louvre. The Louvre photos are always from the same direction, looking into the courtyard with the Pyramid in the middle. Here are some of my personal photos showing the scene from other directions.
Tara Davis-Woodhall is an assistant track coach at the local university.
