Lite + Brite’s Guide to Living That Olympic Life

Although we are watching roughly ten hours of Olympics coverage per day (you’re welcome for taking enough time away from the Peacock app to write this newsletter), we are not technically in Paris right now. Technically, we are in Austin. As are you, presumably. Sad! So Leila has come up with a few ideas for how to feel like we’re in the City of Lights for the 2024 Summer Games without actually traveling farther than ten miles in any direction.

Dine at a French restaurant. We love the vibe at Justine’s. Of all the places in Austin, being in Justine’s feels closest to being in Paris. Hopfields and Bureau de Poste also have good French food.

Drink a chocolat chaud. Rocheli Patisserie has the thickest hot chocolate I’ve found in Austin. They may serve this only seasonally, so yes I am including it here to try to bully them into serving it year-round. If they don’t have French hot chocolate on the menu when you go, that is a tragedy, but they do still have good pastries and aesthetically pleasing bistro chairs. If you need to make your own French hot chocolate, here’s how.

Shop French clothes. If I were in Paris right, I would be ducking into charming boutiques on every little winding road and trying to make sense of European sizing. Given that I am in Austin, my options are more limited, but I will duck into the Sézane pop-up on the little winding road that is South Congress. 

Spectate at local sporting competitions. Okay, we can’t watch Olympic sports here, but we can still watch other sports. Texas Roller Derby bouts are a blast. (The next one will be on August 17.) You can watch sandlot baseball at the Long Time, which has excellent vibes. (The next game is September 7.) Skinny’s occasionally hosts small dog races, which is maybe sort of like track and field? (They don’t currently have one announced, but we’ll list it in the weekly newsletter whenever they do.) If you’re looking to watch some athletes who could someday wind up in the Olympics, check out UT’s 2024-2025 athletic calendar. The season kicks off with women’s soccer on August 15.

Stroll the Seine. Just kidding; it’s the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail.