Olympic balloon rises again in Paris

Paris: A giant balloon that became a popular landmark over the skies of Paris during the 2024 Olympics rose again Saturday evening, as Parisians celeb...

Paris: A giant balloon that became a popular landmark over the skies of Paris during the 2024 Olympics rose again Saturday evening, as Parisians celebrated an annual street music festival.

As locals danced to live music in and around the Tuileries garden in central Paris, the balloon made its return on a hot summer evening.

Organisers are hoping it will once again attract crowds of tourists.

During the Games, the Olympic cauldron was tethered to the balloon, flying above the Tuileries garden at sunset every day. Thousands flocked to see the seven-metre (23-foot) wide ring of electric fire.

Last summer's version "had been thought up to last for the length of the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Mathieu Lehanneur, the designer of the cauldron.