French cancan dancers and modern dance performers welcomed the Olympic torch in Paris’ Montmartre district on Monday (July 15) as the torch relay continued to tour the host city’s capital.
The torch’s flames were lit in front of colourfully dressed dancers of the Moulin Rouge, before heading towards the Sacre Coeur basilica, where dancers clad in black delighted spectators at the bottom of the monument’s fames steps.
“The venue is great, the artistic performance is very beautiful, and it’s quite moving to see it in a place like this that represents Paris,” Parisian Judith Haussling said.
Large crowds of locals and tourists lined the relay route on Monday, the second-day of the Paris relay.
On the first day, the torch went past some of the capital city’s best-known landmarks including the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Louvre Museum.
The torch will pass by the Arc de Triomphe, the Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower and the Place de la Republique square later on Monday.
The relay will culminate with the lighting of the cauldron in Paris during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Games on July 26. The Olympics will last until Aug. 11.
(Reuters)
