The sight of over 10,000 Northern Ireland supporters in the Parc des Princes 45 minutes after the final whistle singing 'We're not going home' in unison brought back vivid memories.
It was September 7, 2005 and David Healy had just scored at Windsor Park against Sven Goran-Eriksson's England, sparking a 'lock-in' at the south Belfast venue.
For a generation of Northern Ireland fans, this was as good as it got. A one-off victory against a giant of international football was the best they could have hoped for. Tournament qualification? 'Not in my lifetime' was the general consensus.
Long gone were the glory days of World Cups in 1982 and 1986, but sporadic victories against the likes of England and Spain made for a pleasant change from losing to Luxembourg or dropping points against the Faroe Islands.
Those wins followed a particularly lean spell at Windsor Park, when an unwanted statistics became increasingly embarrassing. Most minutes without scoring a goal, a long list of games without winning, you name it and Northern Ireland had it.
Yet what has been special about this team over the years is no matter what happened on the pitch the support never wavered. During the infamous goal drought - a run of 1298 minutes without scoring - fans sang 'Let's pretend we scored a goal', leading to minutes of frenzied cheering and dancing in the stands.
Any hint of a chance was greeted by 'A goal, we nearly scored a goal'. Winning a corner brought more loud cheers.
Something similar happened on Tuesday night, when under relentless pressure from the world champions, Jamie Ward led a rare breakaway before winning a corner. Cue a deafening cheer and a flashback to the night David Beckham applauded all sides of Windsor.
Only this time they were relishing the challenge on European football's biggest stage, as Michael McGovern produced an inspired performance to keep the score down and preserve their status as one of the best third-placed sides.
Against Hungary, in what proved to be a decisive qualifying game, McGovern dropped a cross which led to a goal - an honest and uncharacteristic mistake. It could have undone all of their previous good work in the campaign and within seconds of the error, the crowd had responded.
No jeers or sarcastic comments, just vocal support as they chanted his name. McGovern has been faultless since. It is a crowd that inspires belief in the players, who are widely appreciative of their '12th man'.
It hasn't gone unnoticed in France. Against the world champions, NI fans launched into a 10-minute long version of 'Will Grigg is on fire', so popular in Germany that Mats Hummels wanted Grigg's shirt and Bastian Schweinsteiger asked Manchester United team-mate Paddy McNair if he could have his photograph taken with the Wigan striker.
The Germany Twitter account exclaimed 'Northern Ireland, your fans are superb.' Over breakfast on Wednesday morning our crew overheard one German supporter tell hotel staff, "even when we scored their fans just sang louder!"
L'Equipe newspaper praised supporters from both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland for putting a smile on the faces of French people, and it's clear the locals have embraced them by the number of French journalists appearing at the pre-match media duties.
This week, both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland supporters paid tribute to Darren Rodgers and Robert Rainey, who sadly passed away watching Northern Irealnd. A classy and respectful response from all concerned.
Elsewhere, Republic of Ireland supporters have been singing lullabies to a baby on a train and changing a flat tyre for an elderly couple, while Northern Ireland fans had an impromptu collection after accidentally breaking a shop window when playing football in Lyon.
On Tuesday night in Paris, as Michael O'Neill's side progressed thanks to a Turkey win, some cried tears of joy and others danced with fans of rival nations long into the night. Three group games at a major finals was already a deserving reward but the achievements of history-making O'Neill and his players ensure the party continues.
If the dream does end this weekend, Northern Ireland go home safe in the knowledge they've won much more than a game of football.