The dust has now long settled on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and all eyes turn to its Paralympic counterpart. A two-week break has seen a post-Olympics slumber settle into the French capital as it reposes itself following exhaustive Olympic duties.

With the Paralympic Flame lit and travelling across the country, the opening ceremony nearing and final preparations underway, organisers are hoping to galvanise residents and visitors instilling the sporting enthusiasm which rippled through the French capital during the Olympic Games.

Ads throughout the French capital are encouraging excitement for Paralympic events ranging from wheelchair rugby to para-athletics promising a groundbreaking "spectacle" like never before.

Taking place at 20:00 CEST on Wednesday 28 August, the Opening Ceremony of the 17th Summer Paralympic Games will follow the historic Olympic Games Opening Ceremony by becoming the first to take place outside of a traditional stadium setting. 

While it won't emulate the start of the Olympic Games with a parade of boats and performances on the River Seine, it will take place in the famous Place de la Concorde in the centre of Paris with 65,000 spectators in temporary stands treated to live "never-before-seen performances" and a show that will focus heavily on the human body. 

Starting Thursday 29 August, more than 4,400 athletes with physical, intellectual, visual, and cognitive disabilities from 182 countries will battle it out across 549 medal events.

18 iconic Parisian venues have been chosen to keep up the summer's exhilarating sporting spectacle including venues like the renowned Bercy Arena and the historic Grand Palais which will host wheelchair fencing.

The stunning Château de Versailles will host para-equestrian events while the venue below the Eiffel Tower, which hosted beach volleyball during the Olympic Games, will now instead host blind football events. 

"We want to use the same exact recipe," said the head of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, Tony Estanguet. "The Olympics were the first leg of the match, and now comes the second leg with the Paralympics. It will be equally as spectacular."

Like many European capitals, Paris is known for its August interlude in which residents leave for coastal towns or quieter areas reducing the city to a sedentary scene in stark contrast to its usual liveliness. 

As a result, many restaurants, bars, and other businesses close until September. Despite the lull, however, heightened security measures for a summer of Olympic and Paralympic events remain a visible and constant presence as armed police officers patrol key areas.