Purple Sock Spot: fancy

Last time we were in Paris, the closest we got to Le Palais Garnier was across the street. This time, I insisted we go in, since I'd heard it was interesting. We expected to spend maybe half an hour or an hour... we were there the whole morning.

This opera house is really something else. Grand on a scale of grandness that was still impressive the day after we'd seen Versailles. Marble staircases. Detailed mosaic floors. Intricate carving and statuary. Faux gold finishing everywhere (Google is letting me down and I can't find the information now, but as I recall, the appearance of gold was used everywhere, but most of it is really a painted technique that uses highlighting on three-dimensional carving to give the illusion of gold with actual gold leaf only used in a handful of places). References to all kinds of mythology, stories, music and musical history, callbacks to other architectural feats... it really is a very impressive, beautiful, amazing building to visit. Each area - even the street and neighborhood outside! - is meticulously designed and planned to be shown off to best advantage, be different from the others, with specific purposes (the ice cream hall, the promenade, the mens' smoking area, etc) and symbolism echoing and reinforcing it all.

I loved this little salamander, so I included a photo even though he's a bit blurry. He and a friend on the other side are disguising the gas pipes!

Yes, this hall was a conscious callback to the Versailles hall of mirrors.

Possibly my favorite story from the audioguide was that of a visiting queen - I think the queen of Spain? - at the grand opening of the Palais Garnier. Because she was a woman, she was not "allowed" by societal conventions into the areas the men were... but those were the areas that were rumored to be the most grand. She decided she was going to go see it all anyway, so she went (with her attendants).

The opera hall itself is immense, and the scale really can't be appreciated from photographs. The colors were chosen to best show off the ladies who would be in attendance... and, of course, to give that illusion of wealth and luxury so that everyone who attended could immerse themselves in the theatrical experience. The private boxes - including, of course, the famous Number Five reserved for the Opera Ghost - each had its own little foyer as well as seats to look out over the audience and the stage. The whole place is really magnificent.

The self-guided tour also lets one see the music library of the opera, where they keep the scores from every piece performed there, as well as dioramas (some of which are on display) used for designing and building the stage sets. There are also costumes from various shows on display, and the temporary exhibit when we were there was focused on a well-known costume designer.

We ended up sending long enough at the Palais Garnier that our intended late breakfast at Angelina turned into lunch ;)

Further wandering through the town brought us views of the back of the Louvre (scouting out the meeting point for the boat that evening) and the Pierre Hermé macaron shop.

Limited edition macarons specially formulated to be sent to the astronauts (one is/was French) at the Space Station!

These macarons were delicious. We got one of each kind :)

To finish off the day, we had our dinner cruise on the Seine. The boat we chose was absolutely worth it. The front and upper seating areas were glassed all around, and the view was excellent. The food was not complicated or fussy, but very well done and tasty. The route, of course, timed things so that we would be able to see the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower as well as all the other sights along the Seine. Dark night time photos are dark, but here were a few of the highlights :)