In the shade of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, with their backs resting against a stone wall, Eva, 44, and her mother Mary, 77 (both asked to be identified only by their first names), found some relief from the intense heat. In front of them, the Louvre Pyramid looked like a mirage in a concrete desert. Opposite, in the Jardin des Tuileries, the flames circling the Olympic cauldron seemed to come straight from hell. White dust swirled around a crowd of Americans, Spaniards and Australians hurrying to reach any scrap of shade. The sun scorched everything.

By mid-afternoon on Monday, June 30, the heart of Paris seemed to belong to tourists, emptied of its residents. "It's tough. We're overwhelmed by the heat. And yet, we're used to this weather, we're from Cyprus!" said Eva, who works as a lawyer in Nicosia. "But when it's this hot, we just stay indoors. Here, we have no choice, we go out. We're only here for a few days." Mother and daughter had given up on strolling the streets: "We go from one place to another by taxi."

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