Gomes Antonio has spent the past few weeks waking up at 4 a.m. to begin his laps around Paris delivering sheets of glass in his white van.
It was the only way the 60-year-old glass vendor was able to navigate shuttered streets throughout the heart of the city and walls blocking off bridges across the Seine River, set up as part of heightened security restrictions for the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony Friday along the waterway.
The metal barricades blocking streets, closed metro stations and then sabotage of French train lines Friday that halted high-speed rail travel heading to and from the city has left Parisians and visitors alike grumbling. But now that the opening ceremony is over, many hope parts of the city center will open back up.
The Pont Des Invalides, a bridge spanning the Seine near the Eiffel Tower, was already opening up Saturday, and some police barricades were being taken down. But people like Antonio said they were still struggling to get to work.
"I'm hoping things will be a bit more flexible" in the coming days, said Antonio, who's Portuguese and has lived in Paris for 42 years. "We have to do a ton of laps."
