The French colours were everywhere you looked during the Opening Ceremony, a local DJ got his playlist spot on, and the Australians were worth the wait as they hit the Champs-Élysées.
Here are your quick hits from Paris
Glorious Paris takes over
We could have had all five quick hits saying exactly the same thing — Paris is perfect.
We'll stick with one, but my goodness, how beautiful was the City of Lights on the night of nights?
Glorious hot weather and blue skies morphed into gorgeous sunset colours and an atmosphere tailor-made for an opening ceremony.
Add in the usual excitement and positive vibes from a Paralympics opening, and you had a recipe for something special.
Red, white and blue the order of the evening
It came as little surprise, but to paraphrase Sesame Street, this opening ceremony was brought to you by the colours red, white and blue.
Of course the Paralympic logo colours of red, green and blue were prominent, but it was the way the organisers put the French national flag colours front and centre that really impressed.
From some early tricoloured fireworks to the visceral impact of the Patrouille acrobatique de France's flyby trailing the aforementioned coloured smoke, to DJ Myd (more of him shortly) manning the decks clad in ... you guessed it, the colours were omnipresent during the ceremony.
Of course there was the actual French flag raised in the Place de la Concorde during the formal part of proceedings, matched by a tricoloured projection on the famous Luxor Obelisk.
What else would you expect, really? These Games are going to be very French, and that's a good thing.
DJ Myd rules in Paris
When you want a party to go off, and keep the vibe running, what do you need? A DJ who knows what they're doing.
The opening ceremony certainly had that, as Quentin Lepoutre, better known as DJ Myd, smashed it at the Place de la Concorde from start to finish.
His mix of cracking tunes kept the Parade of Athletes moving, with the likes of So flute by St Germain, and La Valse d'Amélie Poulain by Yann Tiersen, made famous in the movie Amélie.
And when the French team marched into view and were announced to a multitude of roars from the crowd, what did our DJ hit us with?
None other than the classic Les Champs-Élysées by Joe Dassin — bringing cheers and a chorus of 50,000 at the Place and thousands more on the aforementioned boulevard.
As they would say at a certain sporting awards night, "DJ Myd, 3 votes"!
Won't someone think of the Phryges?
For every performer in an opening ceremony, it's a challenging task.
You have to remember sometimes intricate choreography while performing in front of a truly global audience.
But there are levels — and at the opening of Paralympics 2024, the highest level was reserved for the Phryges, the interestingly-shaped mascots that are officially anthropomorphic Phrygian caps, a symbol of France.
The issue is that unlike the Olympics opening ceremony, which was cold and very wet, the Paralympics opening was conducted on a glorious but hot and humid 30-degree Celsius evening in central Paris.
The actual performers in a number of the big routines looked like they were warm enough — but the issue was for the mascots who were on stage at the Place de la Concorde throughout the Parade of Athletes, dancing around on stage.
Sadly, the Phryges had no fridges on hand to cool down. We hope they're all ok.
Paralympics motto 'Games wide open' about more than sport
The Paralympic Games are the world's biggest showcase for Paralympic sport — but they're also a lot more.
The motto of the Paris Games is "Games wide open", highlighting Paris' openness to the emotions of sport and the athletes.
IPC president Andrew Parsons used his speech to talk about the athletes' abilities, skills and resilience, but also called on people to "open our minds wide".
"Paralympic athletes are not here to participate, no, sir. They are not playing games. They are here to compete, win and smash world records!
"But Paralympians are also here to achieve something far greater than personal glory.
"They want equality and inclusion for themselves and for the world's 1.3 billion persons with disabilities. Through their performances, Paralympic athletes will challenge stigma, alter attitudes and redefine the limits of what you think is possible."
If we can find a way of celebrating difference and valuing people with disabilities beyond the upcoming 11 days of amazing sport, then maybe the Games' motto will have a lasting impact.
Aussies make it in style
After all the build-up and waiting for the start of the Games, the Francophone order of nations meant we had to wait just that bit longer to catch sight of the Australian team in Paris.
Finally, they appeared in unison, marching down the Champs-Élysées with not a care in the world, taking in the cheers of the crowd and looking — like the representatives of the other 167 nations at the Games — like they were having the time of their lives.
Carrying the flag at the head of the march were para-swimmer Brenden Hall and wheelchair racing star Madison de Rozario. Hall was looking remarkably chipper considering he will be in action in a few hours' time (at time of publication) in the Paralympic pool.
And the big question ... how was the ceremonial uniform? Unscientific trawls of social media seemed to suggest people liked it more than the Olympic version, and certainly the muted army green worked well with the white shorts.
But regardless of what they looked like, it was great to see the team being part of the big night — and we can't wait to see them in action.
Paris left with golden glow as cauldron lights again
While the Paralympics are definitely not the Olympics with different logos, events and organisations, some things turn out the same.
Exhibit one, the cauldron.
The hot-air balloon used for the other Paris Games proved such a magnificent spectacle that the Paralympics said thank you, we'll take that.
Instead of the likes of Rafael Nadal, Nadia Comaneci, Zinedine Zidane and Marie Jo Perec, Paralympics organisers found their own mix of homegrown and international stars to help get the Games underway.
