Al Jazeera Podcasts.

Today, Paris dresses up for the Olympics.

The party's already starting.

Not everyone is happy though.

Parisians have been complaining about the disruption ahead of the games.

Many have already fled Paris.

So is Paris up for the challenge?

I'm Malika Bilal, and this is the take.

The last time the French capital hosted the Olympics was 100 years ago.

Paris became the first city other than Athens to host two modern Olympiads

when the Games returned to France in the summer of 1924.

And though Al Jazeera's Natasha Butler hasn't been there quite that long,

she has lived in Paris long enough to know how big a deal this is in France's history.

I have been living in Paris on and off

since 2005, but I'm half French on my mother's side. My family come from the southwest of France,

so, you know, France's home. Well, Natasha, welcome back to the take. It's always good to have you.

I know that you've been following the preparations in Paris

for the Summer Olympics preparation that's been going on for more than two years now. How has that

paid off? How does Paris look now? Well, Paris is a pretty exciting place to be right now. It's also

quite daunting because the Olympics have pretty much taken over the whole of the

centre of the city. For the first time, the opening ceremony is going to be on the River

Sand, which cuts across the centre of Paris, dividing the north bank from the south bank. That's

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