So much more to see

The last two weeks haven't brought many opportunities for blogging. I am sure that all of you would be riveted by me talking about how I stayed in my bedroom studying for my French midterm one day and then the next read a total of 100 pages on the European Stability and Growth Pact.

But I don't really want to relive my studying, so you'll have to deal with it.

Yesterday was the beginning of "Toussaints" break. This is a lovely tradition that the French have of giving University students a random week off in October. Later in the week I will be heading to London, but right now I am taking my time off to finish my homework and to explore Paris!

In the afternoon we had a class visit to l'Opera Garnier. This is the big opera house in the middle of Paris.

I surprisingly got to the place early, so I took time to grab a sandwich and waited outside on the steps with everyone else. There was an adorable dog there. I couldn't figure out why his owner chose to bring the dog there to exercise it, but he had tons of tennis balls and the dog couldn't get enough of them. It was so CUTE!


My friend Emily got in the way when I was taking a picture of the entrance plaque.
We walked in through the side entrance and waited in an impressive foyer until the tour began. My tour guide was excellent! She told us all about its architecture.



Napoleon III (The Napoleon we all know's nephew) was emperor in France when he held a contest for designing a new Opera house in the middle of Paris. Some 35-year-old no name Charles Garnier won the contest. The Empress was mad that a no-name had won and incredulously asked him "What style is this place?" He responded, "Napoleon III style."

The whole opera house is like a modern shrine to Apollo (god of music, the sun, etc.) and has a lot of different marbles, paintings, and sculptures related to classic mythology.





First stop on the tour was the auditorium itself. This is a famous place--some might recognize it from the Phantom of the Opera! This is the opera house of that story/musical. We got some really interesting history of the phantom. The house calls box 5 "his" box. The story of the phantom started when construction started. Men were working all day and all night on pumping water from the build site. When neighbors heard the voices of the workmen, they thought they were hearing "Un phantom" (a ghost). When the operas were going on in the past, the family who owned box 5 would close the curtains and talk instead of watching the show. People would hear voices and not see who was talking, and thought it was the phantom.

There have been no shortage of accidents either, though the most famous one has been exaggerated. The whole chandiler did not fall on the audience, but one of the counterweights did fall one evening and killed a lady on the fourth level. The man who wrote the book thought that it sounded more impressive for the chandiler itself to fall.

What was really cool was the painting on the ceiling by Marc Chagall. He was asked to repaint the old ceiling (which had been ruined by the old gas lamps). He made this beautiful representation of the most famous operas and ballets.


Like the Magic FluteSwan Lake:Of course, people in Paris were outraged because



Below is the "King's box". It was always reserved for the King (or in this case Emperor).
After this, we all went out to the grand staircase.



Unfortunately for Garnier, the second French revolution happened before his opera house was finished. He hadn't yet completed the Emperor's private entrance or rooms, so, to save money, he stopped work. Now those parts are a museum/library.
One of the coolest parts were the tiny dioramas of old set designs for famous operas and ballets.


Below is Wagner's Valkerie
Romeo and Juliet



After the library, we moved onto the grand foyer where people hung out at intermission. It was pretty ornate.







We got to see the inside of a box next. It was pretty cushy. This one is right next to the center box which is always reserved for the French president.
Our last stop in the Opera house was the restaurant where people used to come and eat during the super long intermissions. It too was very fancy.


On our way out, there was a Tutu display! In the gift shop there were a bunch of tiny tutus that reminded me of the one I had as a kid with multi-colored hearts on it. Adorable.
The Opera is very close to Paris's most famous department store, La Gallerie Lafayette. We went and had a look. This is the ceiling of the place!!!

We got some nice free perfume samples and wandered around the expensive shoe department before some of us went to walk in the Jardins des Tuileries.

These are the gardens in front of the Louvre. There were people sailing boats in one of the fountains.

As we walked on, we found the always-interesting modern art display near another fountain.
Poor buck-tooth man. My 3rd grade self feels your pain.

Another fountain had all of these cymbals in the middle of it. People were throwing pebbles and coins to try to hit them. It was very cool.


Finally, on the way out, someone had spray-painted a quote on the garden wall: "D'etre etonne est un bonheur" meaning "To be surprised is happiness."

This sums up Paris to a T.