Nation by nation, they came up the Champs-Élysées before finally emerging out upon the vast Place de la Concorde, as the largest square in Paris was transformed for the night into a sun-drenched open-air theatre.
As opening ceremonies go, it’s fair to say there have been dingier locations.
This was the first time the opening ceremony of a Paralympic Games was brought outside a traditional stadium setting.
There was a car whizzing around covered in the official mascot of the Games (the Paralympic Phryge), a flyover from the Patrouille de France that spread the colours of the French flag across the sky, and there were many, many pianos, 500 artists and performers and of course the obligatory pyrotechnics.
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And there were athletes, 5,100 of them, taking part in the parade – according to the meaty media guide provided by the organisers who called their opening ceremony: Paradox – From Discord to Concord. See what they’ve done there?
For some spectators, their discord was more about just getting to the venue, as queues still stretched across Pont de la Concorde when the ceremony started at 8pm.
No doubt we are only days away from some bullish Irish politician declaring Ireland should consider putting their hat in the ring to host a Paralympics. We’d probably manage to deliver the queues, to be fair.
And we could almost certainly guarantee the incessant rain that graced the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games just a few weeks back. But it was weather for short sleeves and sun-cream in Paris on Wednesday night – the Paralympics is already getting one over on its more illustrious counterpart.
Temperatures reached the low 30s in the French capital on Wednesday, the kind of heat that makes Irish skin break out in a red rash just worrying about how sweaty that is going to make us. Still, there was no shortage of Irish support present for the ceremony.
Ireland were the 71st delegation, squeezed between Iraq and Iceland, with Dubliners Orla Comerford and Colin Judge given the honour of being flag-bearers.
Raheny Shamrock runner Comerford and UCD table tennis player Judge led the Irish party into the stadium shortly after 9pm.
Ireland has competed in all previous 16 Paralympic Games since the inaugural event in 1960. In the history of the Games, a total of 233 medals have been won by Ireland – 70 gold, 68 silver and 95 bronze.
Team Ireland, 35-strong, hope to be writing new names on the list of Irish medal winners in the days ahead.
Each country was announced to the crowd as the athletes entered the stunning open-air theatre on the Place de la Concorde. They all brought their own unique splash of colour to the occasion. The Brazilians skipped to their seats, the Canadians started a Mexican wave (take that Mexico), the South Africans danced.
By the time the parade ended, the sky had grown dark over Paris. The Luxor Obelisk in the middle of the arena was drenched in light and the Eiffel Tower twinkled in the background.
In the foreground sat thousands of Paralympic athletes from every corner of the globe.
The air remained warm in Paris all night.
There was magic in it, too.
